Pullman officer charged with sex misconduct of drunken Washington State freshman



PULLMAN, Wash. (AP) — Authorities on Tuesday arrested a veteran Pullman police officer and charged him with sexual misconduct against an intoxicated Washington State University freshman in his custody.

Sgt. Dan Hargraves, 49, faces a felony count of first-degree custodial sexual misconduct and was scheduled to appear Tuesday in Whitman County Superior Court. It was not immediately clear if he had obtained a lawyer who could speak on his behalf.

"The alleged criminal misconduct is completely unacceptable behavior for a Pullman Police Officer," Pullman Police Chief Gary Jenkins said in a news release. "We place a high value on the community's trust, and we will continue to work every day to earn and maintain that trust."

According to charging papers, Hargraves encountered the woman as she was stumbling outside late on March 30 and gave her a ride back to her dorm room. He told her to go inside and stay there, but she left to rejoin her friends, and Hargraves then heard another officer say her name over the radio.

Hargraves found the woman again, and this time told her he would have to take her to the station because she had disobeyed his orders, investigators wrote in a probable cause statement. She told investigators that she began crying in the back of the patrol car, offered to bribe him and said, "I'll do anything to not get arrested."

Authorities said Hargraves then drove her to a park and made her engage in a sex act before returning her to campus. She told authorities she only had vague memories of what happened.

The student reported the assault on April 5, and investigators said semen found on her sleeve matched Hargraves' DNA.

Hargraves had been on paid administrative leave or desk duty since early April. The department said he has been with Pullman police for 19 years — 14 of them as a sergeant.

An internal police investigation is also underway.