Former Puyallup police officer charged with third-degree rape

Pierce County prosecutors charged a former Puyallup officer Friday with an alleged rape that occurred in October.

Niamkey Amichia, 32, was formally charged with third-degree rape of a woman he met online, according to court documents.

He was arrested Thursday and fired from the Puyallup Police Department that day, according to a news release from the police department. The Pierce County Sheriff’s Department was in charge of investigating the alleged assault.

Amichia was hired Aug. 8 and was still in training when he was arrested, the Puyallup Police Department said in a Thursday news release.

The “extremely serious charges” against the officer don’t represent the mission, values and staff of Puyallup police or law enforcement officials, Chief Scott Engle said in the statement.

On Oct. 7, deputies with the Sheriff’s Department received a report about a rape, according to probable cause documents.

The sexual assault survivor told police during a February interview that she is a sex worker and posted an advertisement on an adult site where she connected with Amichia and agreed to meet for sex, according to probable cause documents.

She said Amichia picked her up and they parked near her residence, but she grew uncomfortable with Amichia’s aggressive behavior, probable cause documents say.

Though they had agreed to protected sex, upon meeting in person, Amichia did not have a condom so the woman refused. He became aggressive and ignored the woman’s refusal, documents say.

Amichia is accused of sexually assaulting the woman in his truck and telling her she was “lucky he didn’t kill her” before forcing her out of his vehicle and leaving, court documents say.

She noted the license plate on the vehicle and called police, who advised her to go to the hospital for a sexual assault examination, which she did, probable cause documents say.

Investigators ran the license plate the woman had recorded and found the vehicle was registered to Amichia. He had several photos on his Facebook page with the vehicle that matched the woman’s description and a 2014 photo that showed a vehicle with a Connecticut license plate.

Cellphone data investigators acquired through multiple search warrants also showed Amichia was at the location the rape was reported in, probable cause documents say.

The Washington State Patrol Crime Lab returned results from a sexual assault kit Feb. 28. While match results for Amichia are pending, the DNA found in the Pierce County case matched another rape case reported in Connecticut.

Amichia was taken into custody and told investigators he had met with the woman for a date and denied the rape allegations Thursday.

When detectives asked about the 2016 case, Amichia mentioned “another prostitute” and said the case sounded familiar but could not remember anything and denied ever raping anyone, court documents say.

He later admitted remembering the 2016 incident, but stated it was consensual, court documents say. The status of that case and whether Amichia was previously investigated in connection with it are unclear.

Amichia’s bail was set at $200,000 and he will be required to stay only in his Issaquah residence if posted.

Court documents indicate Amichia will hire his own attorney.