Court records detail reported sexual assault at Bellingham park
A Lynden man has been charged with raping and robbing a 48-year-old woman at Little Squalicum Park in Bellingham.
Joseph Fawler Drager, 35, was arrested by the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office on Wednesday — one week after the assault was reported and an investigation into the alleged perpetrator began.
Police were contacted at about 8:30 a.m. Aug. 20 about the incident, according to court records. The woman was walking by herself on a trail in Little Squalicum Park when the assault occurred. She told police that Drager led her off the main trail and into the bushes to rape her. She said he held a knife to her head during the assault and stole her purse and phone afterward.
Nurses at St. Joseph Medical Center found evidence of sexual assault during an examination, as well as injuries to the woman’s face, leg and head. Court records show that the woman told a nurse that she was in pain and “this shouldn’t have happened.”
An emergency alert was issued by Bellingham Technical College about an hour after the crime was reported, and law enforcement told people to avoid the park while they searched for the suspect.
A police K-9 dog that was brought in to investigate the park tracked the woman’s phone and purse to a spot under the Marine Drive bridge, according to court records. However, the K-9, drones and deputies searching the scene were not able to locate the suspect. They did find two eyewitnesses who said they believed they saw the suspect running away while pulling up his pants. They said the man had a beard and a ponytail.
The eyewitnesses’ description of the man, later identified as Drager, was posted by BTC and the WCSO’s Facebook page.
Investigators also contacted nearby Mt. Baker Products, which had a surveillance video of a “suspicious vehicle” arriving at the Little Squalicum Beach parking lot at 7:33 a.m. and leaving at 8:37 a.m. the morning of the assault.
Police tracked the pickup truck and, five days later, found it parked at a mobile home park. The car was registered to Drager’s girlfriend.
Investigators continued to follow Drager’s car in the following days. Photos taken of him at a Home Depot showed he had changed his appearance, court records state, but a later surveillance video of him showed him wearing what one witness said were the same clothes as the morning of the assault.
On the afternoon of Aug. 26, investigators determined that Drager had committed the crime. They took him into custody during a traffic stop the following day.
Drager told police that he was at the park meeting the victim, according to court records. He said the woman was a “willing participant.” He admitted that he took her phone and purse and threw the phone into the bushes as he ran away. He said he had a knife in his possession at the time of the assault, and that he forgot to grab it as he left the scene, according to court documents.
He also said that after seeing the WCSO’s Facebook post with his description, he decided to cut his beard and hair.
Drager has been charged with first-degree rape, first-degree robbery and second-degree assault with a deadly weapon. Deputies said Drager “presents a significant threat to public safety,” and he is being held at the Whatcom County Jail without bail.