The Associated Press
TACOMA, Wash. (AP) -- Two girls who were raped as teenagers by a part-time Wilkeson police officer known as “Night Panther” are entitled to more than $400,000 from the small town, a judge and jury have decided.
The former officer, Larry Richard Jackman, 39, also was ordered Friday by a Pierce County Superior Court jury and Superior Court Judge Thomas J. Felnagle to pay $1.4 million to the women, 13 and 15 at the time, although it’s unlikely he’ll be able to.
Lawyers for the two women noted that Jackman was hired without a psychological screening, nor is one required now for prospective police officers in Wilkeson, a town of about 410 residents about 25 miles northwest of Mount Rainier.
“The main thrust of these cases is to make sure there are changes so this doesn’t happen again,” said Jack Connelly, a lawyer for the younger girl. “To allow somebody to become a police officer and give them a car and a badge and have them patrolling without any kind of psychological screening is unheard of today.”
According to the two lawsuits, Jackman also was inadequately supervised.
“He was having sex in the police station,” Connelly said. “He was doing it in the police car ... he’d go to the courthouse and be sticking batons between girls’ legs.
“He told an animal control officer he ‘liked them young.’ He was a sexual predator.”
Lawyers for Wilkeson and Jackman didn’t return calls to The News Tribune of Tacoma on Monday and Mayor Doug Paulson declined to comment.
Jackman, who has a tattoo of a panther near his groin, joined Wilkeson’s police force in 1994.
He maintained he was innocent but pleaded guilty in 1996 to two counts of third-degree rape and served about five years in prison.
Prosecutors said he had a yearlong sexual relationship with the younger victim, the daughter of a fellow officer, and had sex with the older one when he gave her a ride home while on duty.
The town settled with the younger victim for $275,000 before the lawsuits went to trial this month. On Friday jurors awarded the older victim $325,583, with Wilkeson to pay $130,233 and Jackman $195,349.
The same day, Superior Court Judge Thomas J. Felnagle signed an order that Jackman, who did not participate in the settlement with the younger victim, pay her $1.2 million.