He was charged with child rape and lost his state job. A jury found him not guilty.

A jury has acquitted a man of charges that he raped a 14-year-old girl who visited his home while he was employed by the state to rehabilitate sexually violent predators.

Prosecutors charged Xavier Dominick McGriff with first-degree possession of child pornography and five counts of third-degree child rape in 2016.

Jurors found the 32-year-old not guilty of all counts Friday in Pierce County Superior Court.

Charging papers alleged McGriff had sex with the girl during visits she made to his Pierce County home and that the girl’s mother called the Sheriff’s Department when she learned about it.

The girl told investigators McGriff had given her chlamydia at least once, maybe twice, according to court records.

Defense attorney Ephraim Benjamin told The News Tribune that there was “physical evidence that cast doubt on whether what she was alleging truly occurred.”

Jurors deliberated for about a day, he said, and “did not feel that there was sufficient evidence to support the state’s case.”

The Pierce County Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement: “We believe that evidence supported the truth of the charges in this case. The ultimate decision is in the hands of the jurors, and we respect their role and decision.”

McGriff was a residential rehabilitation counselor 2 at the Special Commitment Center on McNeil Island — where he started working in 2010. The facility houses violent sexual predators who have finished their prison sentences and are found too high a risk to be released.

He was put on home assignment after he was charged, then unpaid leave and ultimately fired in May 2017.

This story was originally published January 24, 2018 at 5:10 PM with the headline "He was charged with child rape and lost his state job. A jury found him not guilty.."