Former member of youth-focused Pierce County board charged with rape of infant
A 25-year-old who formerly served on a youth-focused board that provides insight to Pierce County about homelessness and housing instability has been arrested and accused of raping an infant girl.
The defendant is transgender and uses the name Isabelle, according to court documents and her public Facebook account. Prosecutors charged her Monday under the name William Kelso Flournoy IV, accusing her of first-degree rape of a child and sexual exploitation of a minor.
A plea of not guilty was entered on Flournoy’s behalf at an arraignment hearing Monday in Superior Court, according to court records. Court Commissioner Barbara McInvaille set bail at $1 million.
A defense attorney for Flournoy was not yet listed in court records Wednesday.
The victim is a child someone had asked the defendant to look after when she and her girlfriend moved in with them in a motel in 2023. Court documents indicate Tacoma Police Department detectives planned to contact the REACH Center, the organization that coordinates the Youth Action Board and hosts its meetings, out of concern that there could be other victims.
Carlos Garcia, the director of youth and young adult services at the REACH Center, said Flournoy was never a staff member at the center and has not been involved with the Youth Action Board since October 2023.
The REACH Center provides services to young people experiencing housing instability, and its Youth Action Board is made up of people ages 12-24 who have experienced homelessness or housing instability. According to a Pierce County’s government webpage on youth homelessness, board members provide oversight for decisions that affect youth who don’t have stable housing.
“The [Youth Action Board] is a youth-led space built around safety, accountability, and shared values,” Garcia said in an email Wednesday. “The YAB maintains reporting and accountability processes so that concerns can be raised safely and addressed appropriately. REACH also follows strict safety, reporting, and confidentiality policies for all youth and young adults we serve.”
“Out of respect for young people’s privacy and our confidentiality policies, I’m not able to comment further on individuals or past participation,” Garcia continued. “I’m also mindful that publicly linking individual allegations to the YAB can harm a space meant to support youth leadership, trust, and advocacy.”
Flournoy also was accused in July of possessing and dealing in depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. The defendant was arraigned in that case Monday, and court records show a plea of not guilty was entered on her behalf.
A police report included in charging documents for the child pornography case said Flournoy’s Facebook account listed her work position as “Youth Action Board at The REACH Center” from September 2022 to present. The police report was authored in June 2023. The report said Flournoy was in a group photo on the REACH Center’s Facebook page that appeared to be taken in front of the center’s address.
The FBI’s Missing and Exploited Children Task Force arrested Flournoy on March 5 after she left a residence on Portland Avenue, according to a police report in her rape case. The report said the residence looked to be a living facility for potentially transient individuals.
Tacoma police began investigating the rape case one day earlier, according to the police report, when a tip from Google came through a database for internet crimes against children. It reported that a user had uploaded multiple files through their platform.
One photo allegedly depicted Flournoy on her knees with a small infant girl in front of her. The report then describes a sex act occurring in the picture. A detective wrote in the report that they believed the image depicted the sexual exploitation of a child. According to charging documents, the child was 6 to 7 months old.
After the police arrested Flournoy, investigators photographed her hands, which showed moles that allegedly confirmed she was in the illicit photograph with the infant.
Detectives contacted the infant’s father March 6. According to a police report, the father said he and his children’s mother were both working two jobs in 2023 and living out of a motel. He reportedly told police that the mother knew Flournoy well and asked her and her girlfriend at the time to move in with them to watch the children while they were at work. He identified the infant in the illicit photo as his daughter.
The detective wrote in the report that the mother and father had two other children who Flournoy had access to, and they were going to contact the mother for an interview.
Police reports for the rape case said Flournoy appeared to work for a residential facility for transient children in Tacoma, but it redacted the name of the facility. A detective reported that he would contact employees at the location to determine if there were other victims.
Officer Shelbie Boyd, a spokesperson for Tacoma police, said Wednesday that an investigation is ongoing.
“I spoke with the lead detective, and he is actively investigating this case and continuing to run down all leads, including reviewing locations where the arrestee may have prior history,” Boyd said.
Charging documents in Flournoy’s child pornography case allege that files on her Google account included a short video of her masturbating on the steps of a homeless shelter for young people in Tacoma, as well as “voyeuristic style” photos of clothed females ages 12-18. The probable cause document in that case said the images did not appear unlawful, but a detective wrote that they were relevant to Flournoy’s sexual behavior.
