Man with online alias accused of raping woman at Tacoma’s Wapato Park
A man accused of making an online date with a 20-year-old woman then raping her in Wapato Park on Saturday has been charged.
Adrian Zazueta Jr., 23, pleaded not guilty to second-degree rape at arraignment Tuesday.
Superior Court Commissioner Craig Adams set bail at $150,000.
Zazueta also is a suspect in a similar attack Jan. 23, court records allege. Police said that rape, which is still being investigated, happened in the 900 block of South J Street downtown.
Charging papers give this account of what happened Saturday:
A construction flagger was relaxing at the park after finishing her shift when she saw a young woman walking around and thought she looked like she might need help.
They spoke, and the young woman told her she was there to see a guy she met online. Then the man arrived, and she went on a walk with him.
About 30 minutes later the young woman came running back and told the other woman that man had raped her. The women drove to a hospital, and police responded to the emergency room.
The victim told police that the man’s name online had been Adrian Covenant and that he also went by Nick.
That was also the online name the victim of the January rape gave police, and photos on the Adrian Covenant profile allegedly matched Zazueta.
“Detectives determined that the profiles were the same used in both cases and had identified the defendant, Zazueta, as the suspect in both rapes,” the declaration for determination of probable cause said.
Zazueta allegedly denied knowing the victims and later said “they were both consensual.”
He has a prior conviction of fourth-degree assault with sexual motivation. In that case he was accused of sex with a 13-year-old girl when he was 17, according to court records.
