A sex offender attacked a woman jogging in Wright Park. Now he’s been sentenced

A sex offender accused of trying to rape a jogger last year in Tacoma’s Wright Park has been sentenced.

Daniel Scott Morgan, 33, pleaded guilty to indecent liberties and second-degree assault earlier this year as part of negotiations with Pierce County prosecutors.

On Friday, Superior Court Judge Philip Sorensen game him seven years, three months in prison.

The victim wrote the court ahead of sentencing that she had recently moved to Tacoma when she was attacked Jan. 8, 2017, and that it was difficult to cope with the assault while being far from her family.

Morgan grabbed her in broad daylight while she was jogging before her shift as an emergency department nurse, she wrote.

“I went months without running, a regular hobby of mine, because I was afraid of being attacked,” her letter said about the aftermath of the attack. “... I wasn’t doing anything wrong, and I had never engaged with this man in my life.”

According to charging papers:

Morgan grabbed the woman from behind and pulled her to the ground. She bit his shoulder and screamed as she fought him off.

Morgan ran off with his pants down after a bystander came up and yelled at him.

When police interviewed Morgan, he said a jogger had screamed at him and bit him as he tried to calm her down and that his pants fell down when she pulled him to the ground.

Police said Morgan was a Level 2 sex offender at the time. He was convicted in 2007 of communication with a minor for immoral purposes.

This story was originally published August 21, 2018 at 8:00 AM.