Kent Police arrested a 43-year-old Saudi Arabian man for investigation of unlawful imprisonment with sexual motivation in connection with a 14-year-old runaway girl he took May 11 to a Kent hotel.
Prosecutors filed an unlawful imprisonment charge May 14 against Abdullah Awad Alharbi, according to charging documents. He is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday, May 28 in King County Superior Court in Kent, according to the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. Alharbi posted $20,000 bail and was released May 13 after two days in the county jail.
Alharbi carried a Royal Saudi Air Force identification card with him after police stopped him at the Hawthorne Suites, 6329 S. 212th St., according to the police report. He told officers he was in town working for Boeing and staying at the hotel, which sits across the street from Boeing’s Kent plant.
The incident began at about 2:33 a.m. when a father called 911 to report that his daughter who had run away earlier in the night had called him to say she was being held against her will and a man attempted sexual activity with her.
Officers arrived at the hotel and saw the girl standing outside a building. She told police she had met Alharbi at a nearby gas station and that he agreed to give her a ride to Tacoma to meet some of her friends. He purchased beer and gave her one.
During the drive, Alharbi reportedly reached over and touched the girl’s breasts and said, “So much better than Indian women.” They never found the friends. The girl had tried to open the car door to get out in Tacoma, but Alharbi had locked the door. Alharbi then took her back to the Kent hotel and rented her a room.
He told her on the ride back that he was going to buy condoms and have sex with her. He told her, “You better make it a magical night.”
Back at the hotel, Alharbi allegedly pushed her onto a bed at a room he rented and put his hands under her shirt and down her pants. She told him to stop because she needed to take a shower. When the girl came out of the shower, Alharbi had only a towel wrapped around his waist.
The teen told Alharbi she was feeling sick and needed to get some medicine. As she opened the hotel door to leave, he pressed his hand against the door and closed it. He offered to get her medicine and told her not to try to leave. When he left, she waited a few minutes, called her father and then left the room. Police found her a few minutes later.
Officers found Alharbi outside in the middle of the hotel complex. He said he rented a room for a friend but denied knowing anything about a 14-year-old girl. The teen identified Alharbi as the man who rented the room and gave her a ride in a black GMC Suburban.
After police arrested Alharbi, he refused to answer any questions and would only say diplomat and embassy. Officers searched Alharbi and found receipts that night for condoms bought in Kent and beer purchased in Tacoma. Officers notified the Saudi embassy of Alharbi’s arrest.
Officers returned to the hotel on May 13 for further investigation and found the man’s wife and three children staying in a room. Police asked the wife to talk to them but she eventually handed them a cellphone that had Alharbi’s defense attorney on the other end. She told police she did not want to speak to them.
Alharbi had rented the room on April 28.
Reckless driving
Officers arrested a man for investigation of reckless driving after measuring him driving 81 mph in a posted 35 mph zone on May 12 in the 9400 block of South 277th Street.
A motorcycle officer used a laser speed measuring device to track a Toyota pickup speeding eastbound, according to the police report.
The officer chased the pickup and stopped it at the top of South 277th Street near 108th Avenue Southeast. Police took the man to the city jail where he was booked and released.
Theft
Police arrested a man for third-degree theft after he allegedly ate a meal at about 1:11 a.m. May 12 at Shari’s restaurant, 24525 Russell Road, and left without paying for it.
The restaurant manager called police to report the “dine and dash,” according to the police report.
The man ate a meal of eggs Benedict with a side of hash browns and had a bill of $12.99. He left his table after eating to sit at a vacant table that hadn’t been cleared. He ate the leftover food at that table and then exited the restaurant without paying.
Officers found the man walking near the restaurant. He said he forgot to pay for the meal. The man had no cash or credit cards on him to pay for the meal, so police took him to the city jail.
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