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La Center store clerk charged with rape

Accused of raping customer at Woodland market

The Columbian
Published: August 2, 2011, 5:00pm

A clerk at a Woodland convenience store has been charged with forcibly raping a customer in late July.

The Cowlitz County Prosecutor’s Office on Monday filed charges of second-degree rape, indecent liberties and second-degree possession of stolen property (access device) against Jaskaran Singh, 33, of La Center.

Woodland police said Singh is not his real name, but he would not tell police his true family name.

The customer, a 40-year-old Ariel woman, told Woodland police that she went into the Shell convenience store to buy beer on July 27. She said Singh grabbed her, forced her into the beer cooler and raped her. She said he repeatedly told her he liked her, but while holding her down he told her he could kill her.

Police said Singh admitted the act but claimed that the woman initially agreed to have sex with him, then changed her mind, sending him into “a sexual rage.”

The woman also told police that several months earlier, Singh grabbed her breasts and offered her money for sex. She pushed him away and didn’t return to the store for some time, but she didn’t report the incident to police, she said. Singh verified that he grabbed her breasts against her wishes, police said.

Police said Singh had a credit card in his wallet that a man reported as stolen in June. Singh said he found the card but never used it.

His arraignment is scheduled for Aug. 9. Bail has been set at $200,000, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has placed a hold on him.

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