Tacoma police seek transient charged with raping teen girl

Tacoma police are searching for a transient charged with raping a 14-year-old girl he met while she was walking down the street.

Martine Smith, 23, is listed as being homeless in Seattle, and officers have been unable to find him.

On Tuesday, Pierce County prosecutors charged him with second-degree rape and third-degree child rape for the Feb. 7, 2015, assault.

Charging papers give this account:

The girl was walking on Portland Avenue when she noticed Smith, who called out to her and told her she looks “like the type to make money fast.”

He began following her and allegedly trying to talk her into going home with him.

Smith “told her he could pay her bills, buy her nice things and feed her well,” records show. He bragged about recently being released from prison for armed robbery and threatened the girl.

She said he eventually took her into a shed and sexually assaulted her.

After the attack, the girl walked home and told her foster mother. The rape was reported to police the same day.

Police identified Smith through DNA.

This story was originally published March 29, 2017 at 8:35 AM with the headline "Tacoma police seek transient charged with raping teen girl."