Ex-Puyallup cop who evaded rape charge arrested on suspicion of out-of-state sexual assault
Former Puyallup Police Officer Niamkey Amichia was arrested Friday on a warrant from Connecticut where he’s been charged with suspicion of sexual assault, home invasion, kidnapping, unlawful restraint and impersonating a police officer, according to the Puyallup Police Department.
Amichia, 32, was fired earlier this year after he was arrested on suspicion of rape. He pleaded guilty in July to patronizing a prostitute and was released from jail.
Superior Court Judge James Orlando sentenced him to 90 days in county jail. Because Amichia had already served 134 days behind bars since his arrest in March, he was released.
Friday arrest
On Friday, Amichia went to Puyallup City Hall to retrieve personal property, including a gun, from the police department. It had been held there since his March arrest by the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department.
“Puyallup Police Department policy requires that a criminal history inquiry be run before the release of any firearms,” the department said in a release Friday. “The inquiry was run a few hours before the meeting, and thus, the arrest warrant was discovered.”
Amichia was arrested without incident on the fully extraditable warrant, Puyallup police said. He was booked into the Pierce County Jail where he will await an extradition hearing.
Troubled history
The Puyallup Police Department hired Amichia in August 2022, shortly after he had resigned from the Bellevue Police Department, where he’d been unable to complete a field training program, according to public records obtained by The News Tribune. Training officers noted he lacked basic understanding of laws and included inaccuracies in reports while excluding important facts.
In the Connecticut case, the victim reported her attacker entered her residence claiming to be a police officer, bound her with zip-ties and raped her, according to the probable cause document in Pierce County. The suspect left behind a condom with his DNA.
This story was originally published September 15, 2023 at 4:51 PM.
