Serial Molester Held in Oregon

The search ended Sunday in Oregon for a serial child molester suspected of using a false address to obtain a Washington state driver’s license after he was freed from a life sentence in California.

Edward Harvey Stokes, 48, was arrested about 9 a.m. Sunday at a coin-operated laundry in Gresham, Ore., a Portland suburb, after police received a tip from someone who recognized him, authorities said.

Investigators said they believed that the man who told a therapist that he had molested more than 200 young victims had been driving around the Pacific Northwest in a rented white cargo van.

Stokes’ capture ended a manhunt that began Thursday when the Clark County, Wash., Sheriff’s Department issued an arrest warrant charging him with felony perjury and misdemeanor fraud for signing a document with false information with the Washington Department of Licensing. Those charges carry a maximum of five years in prison.

Stokes was being held Sunday without bail at the Multnomah County Detention Center in Oregon, and will remain there pending extradition to Washington. “If he decides to play games, [extradition] could take six months, believe it or not, just to get him across the river,” said Clark County Sheriff’s Sgt. Dave Trimble, who supervises his department’s sex-offender unit.

Stokes’ whereabouts became of interest to authorities shortly after he was released from the Orange County Men’s Jail on April 7.

He was set free after serving two years of a life sentence imposed in 2001 for drugging and sexually assaulting Blue Kartak, a 16-year-old runaway he met at a Seattle coffee house and lured to an Anaheim motel.

The California 4th District Court of Appeal in Santa Ana ruled last November that Stokes’ constitutional right to cross-examine his accuser was compromised because Kartak had committed suicide by the time prosecutors produced a supplemental 83-page police report that raised questions about the victim’s credibility, particularly whether the sexual acts Stokes committed were against Kartak’s will.

Stokes was freed after the state Supreme Court refused to review the appeal court’s ruling.

Under Washington law, sex offenders released from custody in other states have 30 days to register with police.

Worried that her brother might strike again during that period, schoolteacher Susan Stokes had warned the public about his release, saying that she believed he was dangerous.

The Clark County sheriff obtained an arrest warrant Thursday, after going to the Vancouver address that Stokes used to apply for a driver’s license, and being told by the current homeowners that they didn’t know him. That address may be one formerly used by friends of Stokes, authorities said.

Sheriff’s deputies learned over the weekend that Stokes had rented a vehicle from a Ryder office on April 12 , Trimble said, and released that information to other law enforcement agencies.

Stokes has been arrested at least five times on sex offenses dating back to 1974, and served various amounts of time in jail and prison along the way.

According to police, Stokes targeted runaways or troublemakers, hoping they would be too afraid to go to police. Stokes often gave his victims alcohol and drugs, making it more difficult for them to defend themselves. Some said they awoke in handcuffs or leg shackles.