COLVILLE — A Colville police officer had sex while on duty with an 18-year-old runaway he was supposed to locate, but won’t be charged with a crime, according to police records.
Officer Julio Valencia, 30, was the subject of an investigation by the Stevens County Sheriff’s Office after he was tasked with looking for the runaway high school student in April. Shortly after the teenager was found, Valencia messaged her on social media and then began a sexual relationship with her, according to Stevens County Sheriff’s Office reports obtained by The Spokesman-Review.
The officer and the teen would meet for sex at the Colville police gun range or other spots while Valencia was both off and on duty, the reports allege.
Efforts to reach Valencia were unsuccessful Tuesday. The police department directed inquiries to the city and the mayor’s office. Neither responded.
Stevens County Prosecuting Attorney Erika George said in an email Tuesday that to her knowledge, Valencia is still employed with the department. He was placed on administrative leave over the summer , according to the reports.
George said there was some sort of disciplinary process that took place, but that she was not part of it.
In April, Valencia wrote in a police report he received a dispatch call requesting a welfare check on the girl because her father said she had run away from home. Valencia contacted her school, her friends and her father to gather information on her whereabouts.
According to the report, she was staying in a hotel and did not want to go home. A week later, according to the the report, the girl returned safely home. Valencia wrote in his report that he contacted her at the Safeway in Colville to confirm she was OK.
Valencia found the teen through TikTok and messaged her. She unblocked his number so the two could begin texting, sheriff’s office reports say. Throughout the month of June, the two were having sex at a local cemetery and the department’s firearm range.
Eventually, the teen’s father discovered the messages between his daughter and Valencia and called police, the sheriff’s report says. She was taken to a local hospital where a sexual assault kit was administered.
The report states the sexual assault kit was “at the request of people higher in rank” and when the deputy assigned to collect the kit went to look for active rape cases in his database to assign a case number to, none could be found. A nurse was also never advised about taking a rape case for Colville police, the report says.
A short time later, investigators were advised that Valencia was placed on administrative leave.
The Stevens County Prosecutor’s Office declined to charge Valencia earlier this month after determining that the teen consented to sex and was legally an adult. The details surrounding the incident are “concerning,” however, George wrote in a letter dated Aug. 15.
While the teen said she consented to sex with the officer, she stated she did not consent to him not using contraception. Valencia instead sent her money to buy pregnancy prevention pills, the sheriff’s report says. He also took a video of the two having sex, which she turned over to police.
“The only thing that bothered her is that he knew where to go and she thought she was not the only one,” the sheriff’s report says, because he knew the areas so well and followed “girls around her age” on TikTok.
George wrote in her letter that the teen is “delayed” and on a special learning plan at her high school. Despite this, George wrote there is no indication the teen is mentally operating below her age and it was not readily apparent that she had any significant disability that would amount to charging Valencia with rape.
George also debated charging Valencia with theft of company time for having sex while on duty, the letter declining to charge states. While she believes a “theft of services” occurred, the state could likely not meet the burden of proof in that matter, she wrote.
George also issued a letter addressed to Valencia himself, which was obtained by The Spokesman-Review. That letter notified him that he was placed on the “Brady list,” a list containing the names and details of law enforcement officers who have sustained criminal convictions or were deemed untrustworthy and not credible.
The Brady letter accuses Valencia of being unreliable, dishonest and exceeding “the consent of the sexual interaction.” It also states that he took advantage of his position as an officer to engage in a sexual relationship.
If Valencia is on duty during a sexual assault case at any point from now on, it’s possible he will never be able to be called as a witness due to credibility issues from being on the Brady list. It could also be used as evidence in trial pending a ruling by a judge.
