A Vancouver attorney pleaded not guilty Wednesday to raping a 9-year-old girl in his Sunday school class.
Ryan D. Whitaker, 58, was arraigned on two counts of first-degree rape of a child or, in the alternative, first-degree child molestation. Trial was set for March 5.
Whitaker, who is free on $20,000 bail, has retained attorney Josephine Townsend to represent him.
Whitaker was arrested Nov. 22 at his downtown law office after the girl alleged that Whitaker had sexually abused her on several occasions during services at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the 9700 block of Northeast 50th Avenue.
The girl said the alleged abuse occurred between February and September of this year. The alleged victim alerted a bishop and her parents, according to a probable cause affidavit filed with the court.