A 64-year-old Edmonds man faces allegations he raped a woman at the Olympic Club Hotel in downtown Centralia on Jan. 21.
Shawn M. Ogara is charged with one count of second-degree rape, a Class A felony punishable by up to life in prison. He will look to retain private defense counsel.
Ogara has no warrant or criminal history, according to prosecutors.
Centralia police arrested Ogara and booked him into the Lewis County Jail around 7:43 p.m. Jan. 21, according to jail records.
He made a preliminary appearance in Lewis County Superior Court on Jan. 22.
During the hearing, Judge Joely Yeager set Ogara’s bail at $100,000 cash or bond — less than the $250,000 requested by Senior Deputy Prosecutor Paul Masiello — based primarily on the defendant’s lack of criminal history.
Yeager granted the state’s request for a buccal swab to test Ogara’s DNA and entered a sexual assault protection order on behalf of the victim.
Before the judge made her ruling, Rachael Tiller, Ogara’s attorney for the day, argued for either an unsecured bond or else no more than $25,000 in bail, citing the defendant’s lack of criminal history and stable residential information that dated back some 40 years.
Tiller also noted that the defendant’s spouse was present in court, and indicated she had concerns regarding the alleged victim in the case, alluding to potential pending legal matters.
According to the probable cause affidavit from the Lewis County Prosecutor’s Office, the victim told police she had met Ogara at the nearby restaurant O’Blarney’s on North Tower Avenue, where they drank alcohol, before the two went to Ogara’s hotel room at the Olympic Club.
The woman told police “she was homeless, and she believed they would just watch TV,” the affidavit states.
The woman alleges Ogara raped her inside the hotel room. Officers reportedly contacted her at the hotel after she had gone to another room following the incident.
That room’s occupants called the police.
According to the affidavit, the woman told officers she had said “no” multiple times to the defendant, and “was clear that she told Shawn ‘no’ while he was having sex with her.”
“She later submitted to a sexual assault examination at Centralia Providence Hospital,” the affidavit states.
Centralia police reportedly contacted Ogara back at O’Blarney’s, where he allegedly admitted to “fooling around,” but “denied having sexual intercourse,” according to the affidavit.
“He then requested an attorney,” the affidavit states.
Ogara is scheduled to appear for an arraignment to review attorney status on Jan. 29.
