(PatriotWise.com) — Last week, a Tacoma, Washington, jury convicted registered sex offender Henry Hauser of kidnapping, identity theft, and indecent liberties for the 2021 kidnapping and rape of a woman he held captive for two weeks, Fox News reported.
Hauser was charged in December 2021 with kidnapping and rape after he abducted a homeless woman on November 10 and kept her captive in a garage until November 28, keeping her drugged while repeatedly sexually assaulting her.
According to prosecutors, the victim escaped from Hauser’s Tacoma house on November 28, 2021, and flagged down a passerby asking for help, saying that she had been kept hostage for weeks. The woman’s ankles were bruised, and there was a chain around one ankle.
The woman told responding officers that she was homeless, and Hauser offered to let her stay in his garage. She took him up on the offer and went home with him on November 10. After hanging out with Hauser for a while, the woman became uncomfortable and tried to leave. Hauser restrained her, chaining her to his truck. For the next two weeks, Hauser kept the woman drugged and repeatedly raped her several times a day.
Prosecutors allege that Hauser told the woman that he wanted to “keep her” but also threatened to kill her.
The victim managed to escape after Hauser inadvertently left the key to the chain nearby.
When officers searched Hauser’s home, they found the truck the victim had been chained to. In the bed of the truck was a large bucket of urine and bedding material.
Hauser was arrested at a Tacoma store on December 2, 2021.
When interviewed by police, Hauser admitted that the woman had been staying in his garage but denied holding her against her will or sexually assaulting her. He also claimed that the woman had asked to be chained, but he refused.
Last week’s conviction is Hauser’s third strike, meaning when he is sentenced on October 6, he could face life in prison without parole.
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