KENT, Wash. — Editors’ Note: The video of this story was removed due to an incorrect title, labeling it as rape rather than sexual assault.
On Thursday the man accused of sexually assaulting a 6-year-old girl young girl in the toy aisle of a Kent Dollar Tree appeared in court for the first time on a King County molestation charge.
The suspect is named as 31-year-old Nicolas Hargrave.
Reports show the assault happened in May 2013, but police were not able to identify a suspect. In August of this year, a DNA match from a sex offender registry linked Hargrave to the unsolved Kent case.
In his arraignment, the judge set bail at $100,000 with orders that if posted, he must stay in the state of Washington, give up all weapons, have no contact with minors, and be on monitored house arrest.
The victim, who was 6 years old at the time, and her mother Tracy say that 2013 day is one that greatly impacted their lives.
The victim said she was playing in the toy aisle while her mom shopped. She tells us Hargrave walked up to her, unzipped his pants, touched himself, and ejaculated on her.
She said she immediately ran away and told her mom, who called the police.
Since then, the family says they have heard nothing.
Kent Police say in August, Hargrave’s DNA came up as a match to the evidence previously collected in the Kent case.
They received that sample from a sex offender registry database. Hargrave was required to submit a sample in 2022 due to a child pornography possession conviction in Texas.
He was arrested by Texas deputies and brought back to Washington.
The victim and her mom were not present in court Thursday but sent a representative with a statement.
“Our family continued to suffer for months, we avoided activities where we couldn’t watch our kids the entire time. Paranoia took its toll on our family. If he can boldy expose himself in a toy aisle that is sick and twisted, we assume there are other victims that experienced this over the past 11 years too,” said the victim statement.
In his arraignment, Hargrave pleaded not guilty to the child molestation charge.
His attorney pleaded his case, saying he has been a good citizen.
“He wants to get back to Texas and his family. We ask the court to release him where he was doing just fine,” the defense said.
The judge agreed to a bail amount but with hesitation.
“I do have concerns about future violent crimes being committed and I am concerned about the recent conviction of sexually explicit images of minors,” the judge said.
His bail was set at 100 thousand dollars.
The victim, now an adult, said she wants to get the word out to alert other potential victims so they can get closure too.
“I’m glad that justice is finally being served and that hopefully if there’s other people who have interacted with this man, the way that I did that they can also get the justice that they deserve.”
Hargrave’s next appearance is set for Christmas Eve. If Hargrave posts bail, he is required to stay in Washington until further notice.
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