Washington Man Rapes 6-Year-Old While On Vacation In Canada; Gets Sentenced To Jail: Prosecutors

A man from Port Townsend, Washington, was sentenced to more than eight years in prison after he raped a 6-year-old child while he was on vacation in Canada back in 2017, prosecutors said.

John Timothy Whicher was sentenced to 102 months in prison and ten years of supervised release in the U.S. District Court in Tacoma Monday, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Washington (USAO-WDWA) said in a statement.

The 63-year-old previously pleaded guilty to engaging in illicit sexual conduct in a foreign place in February.

The sexual molestation took place in August 2017 when he brought the then-6-year-old victim to a family cabin in Ontario, Canada, court records showed. He allegedly told the victim to keep the assault a secret, but the child later revealed it to a parent.

The parent confronted Whicher and reported his behavior to the Port Townsend Police Department, which then reported the incident to Canadian authorities.

Federal prosecutors learned of the allegation after Canadian authorities filed a request to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Seattle for Whicher to be extradited and face charges.

Assistant U.S. attorneys then worked with local and Canadian law enforcement to bring the appropriate charges against Whicher in the Western District of Washington.

U.S. District Judge Benjamin H. Settle, during Monday's sentencing, said Whicher's victim "has a life sentence" due to his actions.

"He'll live with this. This kind of horrendous assault follows a victim through their entire life," the magistrate was quoted as saying.

The victim's mother said Whicher "turned out to be the biggest threat in both of our lives," according to the USAO-WDWA statement.

"The conduct in this case was a shocking betrayal to the child and the child’s family," U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington Nicholas W. Brown said.

Child sexual abuse has been linked to long-term trauma, health and social problems for victims, including addiction and a risk of suicide, Brown added.

Apart from being sentenced to prison, Whicher was also ordered to register as a sex offender after his release.