Colville police officer allegedly had sex with teenage runaway while on duty

A Colville police officer had sexual intercourse with an 18-year-old runaway while on duty while he was supposed to be tracking down, but no charges will be filed against him, according to police records.

Officer Julio Valencia, 30, was the subject of an investigation by the Stevens County Sheriff's Office after he was assigned to search for the runaway high school student in April. Shortly after the teen was found, Valencia sent her a message on social media and then began a sexual relationship with her, according to Stevens County Sheriff's Office reports obtained by The Spokesman-Review.

According to reports, the officer and the juvenile met for sex at the Colville Police Department shooting range or other locations, both during Valencia's off-duty time and while on duty.

Attempts to reach Valencia were unsuccessful on Tuesday. Police referred their inquiries to the city and the mayor's office. Neither responded.

Stevens County District Attorney Erika George said in an email Tuesday that, to her knowledge, Valencia is still employed by the department. He was reportedly placed on leave over the summer.

George said there was some sort of disciplinary process, but she was not involved in it.

In April, Valencia wrote in a police report that he received a call from dispatch asking to check on the girl's welfare because her father said she had run away from home. Valencia contacted her school, her friends and her father to get information about her whereabouts.

According to the report, she was staying at a hotel and did not want to go home. A week later, the report says, the girl returned home safely. Valencia wrote in his report that he contacted her at the Safeway in Colville to make sure she was OK.

Valencia found the teen on TikTok and messaged her. She unblocked his number so the two could start texting each other, sheriff's office reports say. In June, the two had sex at a local cemetery and at the department's shooting range.

Eventually, the teen's father discovered the messages between his daughter and Valencia and called police, the sheriff's report says. She was taken to a local hospital where she was administered a sex offender kit.

The report says the sex offender kit was provided “at the request of higher-level individuals,” and when the officer assigned to pick up the kit searched his database for active rape cases to assign them a case number, none could be found. A nurse was also never alerted to take on a rape case for Colville police, the report says.

A short time later, investigators were informed that Valencia had been placed on leave.

The Stevens County District Attorney's Office declined to file charges against Valencia earlier this month after determining the teen had consented to sex and was of legal age, but the details of the incident were “troubling,” George wrote in an Aug. 15 letter.

While the teen said she consented to having sex with the officer, she said she did not agree with him not using birth control. Valencia instead sent her money to buy birth control pills, the sheriff's report said. He also took a video of the two having sex, which she turned over to police.

“The only thing that bothered her was that he knew where to go and she thought she wasn't the only one,” the sheriff's report said, because he knew the areas so well and followed “girls her age” on TikTok.

George wrote in her letter that the teenager was “retarded” and was attending special education classes at her high school. However, there was no indication that the teenager was mentally unfit for her age, nor was it readily apparent that she had a significant disability that would justify a rape charge against Valencia.

George also considered charging Valencia with theft of work time because she had sex during work hours. However, the letter declined to charge the states. Although she believes a “theft of services” occurred, the state likely cannot meet the burden of proof in the matter, she wrote.

George also wrote a letter to Valencia himself, obtained by the Spokesman-Review, informing him that he had been placed on the “Brady List,” a list of the names and contact information of police officers who have criminal records or are considered unreliable and untrustworthy.

Brady's letter accuses Valencia of being unreliable, dishonest, and of “exceeding the limits of consent for sexual interaction,” and says he took advantage of his position as an officer to engage in a sexual relationship.

If Valencia is involved in a sexual assault case from now on, it's possible he could never be called as a witness again due to credibility issues caused by his Brady List entry. The file could also be used as evidence in the case until a judge makes a decision.