Convicted murderer charged with molesting child at Federal Way park

Published 3:15 pm Friday, May 6, 2016

A convicted murderer was charged with child molestation after allegedly assaulting a girl at Steel Lake Park last Friday.

Auburn resident Michael Wayne Sanchez, 62, is being held on $500,000 bail at the Regional Justice Center for first-degree child molestation.

Sanchez, who was convicted of murdering a 12-year-old girl in 1991, allegedly touched a 9-year-old girl as she was learning how to fish with her mentor from Big Brothers Big Sisters.

Her mentor took her to the park for their first outing together. While they were on the dock, the girl spoke to many people about fishing and was excited when Sanchez let her reel in a fish he had hooked.

When the victim bent down on the dock near the water to wash fish scales off of her hand, Sanchez also crouched down behind her and allegedly touched the girl over the swimsuit she was wearing under her dress.

The girl’s mentor said Sanchez crouched behind the girl two other times, but she could not see what he was doing because he was wearing a large coat.

When the girl and her mentor got into the car to leave, the victim reportedly said that Sanchez had “touched her inappropriately.” When her mentor asked her what she meant, the girl said he had touched her “private parts.”

The mentor called the girl’s mother before contacting the police. The girl told the officer Sanchez rubbed her outside of her swimsuit and then inside her clothing, penetrating her, according to police records.

In an interview with a child interview specialist, the victim said Sanchez touched her under her dress at least three separate times, and that when she tried to move away, his hands followed her and she “felt really weird.”

Sanchez denied touching the victim inappropriately but admitted to helping her catch a fish. He also said he’d prevented her from falling in the water by grabbing her jacket.

In addition to being a convicted murderer who served 23 years in prison, Sanchez told police he was accused of molesting his biological daughter in 1985 but that his daughter recanted in court.