Eastern Adams County's Only Independent Voice Since 1887
Eastern Adams County's Only Independent Voice Since 1887
Kliewer used social media to try luring girls
Eugene Roy Kliewer
RITZVILLE - A local man is being held in the Adams County Jail on sex-related offenses after allegedly using his Facebook account to try to lure young girls to his East Weber Road home.
Eugene Roy Kliewer, 79, is being held in the jail here on Pierce County warrants for first-degree attempted rape of a child, three counts of second-degree attempted rape of a child and felony communicating with a minor for immoral purposes.
He was booked into the Adams County Jail on June 15.
Records show Kliewer went to Tacoma on June 5 to meet two or three young girls Instead, he was greeted by two adults – a man connected with Predator Poachers and a woman from the group Women Against Predators – at an undisclosed school location.
Kliewer allegedly fainted during that encounter in which Tacoma police were dispatched, according to the probable cause statement leading to his arrest 11 days later.
The police response prompted an investigation; the adult decoys provided law enforcement officers with detailed documentation of their interactions with Kliewer.
Records show Kliewer allegedly used a Facebook account to try to meet the young girls. Instead, he unknowingly began sexual communications with decoys pretending to be young girls – 13-year-old "Brittany," 11-year-old "Kylie," 13-year old "Trinity' and 13-year-old "Summer."
Kliewer used his personal count, which was listed under Gene Kliewer, records show.
According to Pierce County Superior Court records, Kliewer's interactions with the decoys began April 22 in a Facebook group called "Teen Date 13-18."
The decoys provided Kliewer with fake photographs and informed him they were underage and not sexually active, records show. Despite having that information, the defendant continued providing sexually explicit messages to the decoys.
In less than two months, the decoys amassed more than 2,000 messages from Kliewer, records show. One message included a photo of himself in the mirror.
Detectives used that photo, comparing it to his driver's license, records show, noting the images were of the same man.
Even after he June 5 interaction, Kliewer continued to try to communicate with the young girls he thought he had met, records show, noting he called one of the decoys to caution her not to talk to police.
He also referenced his belief that someone must have "intercepted" his communications, not realizing that he was talking to decoys, records show.
Following a review of the evidence, investigators met with the prosecuting attorneys in Pierce County, and a warrant for his arrest was issued by Judge Edmund Murphy on June 14, records show. He was subsequently arrested and booked into the Adams County Jail.
Kliewer was convicted in 2012 in Ontario, Canada, for sexual interference, records show. That case stemmed from a 2010 report made by his wife, who observed her 2-year-old granddaughter interacting with him sexually.
As a result, Kliewer had to register as a convicted sex offender with the Adams County Sheriff's Office when he moved to Ritzville.
Roger Harnack is co-owner and publisher of Free Press Publishing. An award-winning journalist, photographer, editor and publisher who grew up in Eastern Washington, he's one of only two Washington state journalists ever to receive the international Golden Quill for editorial/commentary writing. Roger is committed to preserving local media, and along with it, a local voice for Eastern Washington.
Reader Comments(0)