Case report
Aaron Drake was a Mormon church member in Whatcom County, Washington. In September 2023, he was arrested and charged with sexually abusing two girls, along with his brother Brian Drake, from 2002 to 2009.
This is a developing case. FLOODLIT.org will update as we get more details.
Case facts
- case report | facts | sources
- LDS mission: unknown
- Lived in: Washington,
- During alleged crime, lived in: Washington,
- Victims: 2 victims, Multiple victims,
- Crime years: 2000s,
- Latest update: 2023: charged
- Add information
Case information sources
- case report | facts | sources
- Brian Matthew Drake
- 23-1-01194-37 | STATE OF WASHINGTON vs AARON JOSEPH DRAKE
- Whatcom brothers accused of nearly 40 sex crimes for years-long abuse of 2 girls
Case information source details
-
Brother of the accused
-
view all information sources 23-1-01194-37 | STATE OF WASHINGTON vs AARON JOSEPH DRAKE
Publisher: Odyssey Portal - Washington Courts Online Case Search
Date: 23 Sep 2023
Archive.org
Source type: Court recordCase Information
23-1-01194-37 | STATE OF WASHINGTON vs AARON JOSEPH DRAKE
Case Number
23-1-01194-37Court
WhatcomJudicial Officer
Olson, Robert EFile Date
09/21/2023Case Type
ADL Criminal AdultCase Status
On WarrantParty
Plaintiff (Criminal)
STATE OF WASHINGTONActive Attorneys
Attorney
Richey, Eric John
Lead Attorney
Jenkins, Gordon McLeodDefendant (WIP)
DRAKE, AARON JOSEPHDOB
XX/XX/XXXXEvents and Hearings
09/21/2023 Information
09/21/2023 Affidavit of Probable Cause
09/21/2023 Order for Warrant
Judicial Officer
Vetter-Hansen, AnnComment
of Arrest & Determination of Probable Cause for Detention / cc: WCSO09/21/2023 Warrant of Arrest
Comment
Issued / Copy Filed -
view all information sources Whatcom brothers accused of nearly 40 sex crimes for years-long abuse of 2 girls
Publisher: Bellingham Herald
Date: 23 Sep 2023
Archive.org
Source type: News articleTwo Whatcom County men are facing nearly 40 felony sex crimes for allegedly sexually abusing and torturing two female children over a seven-year span roughly two decades ago.
Prosecutors charged Brian Matthew Drake and Aaron Joseph Drake, who are brothers, with 37 crimes — all but one of which are felonies and all but two of which are sex crimes, according to Whatcom County Superior Court records.
Brian Matthew Drake, 31, of Bellingham, was charged Thursday, Sept. 21, with six counts of first-degree child molestation, three counts of first-degree child rape, three counts of first-degree incest, three counts of indecent liberties, one count of second-degree rape by forcible compulsion, one count of second-degree assault, one count of third-degree rape, one count of attempted first-degree child rape, one count of attempted third-degree rape, one count of voyeurism, and one count of intimidating a witness.
Aaron Joseph Drake, 33, of Billings, Montana, was also charged Thursday with four counts of first-degree child molestation, two counts of first-degree child rape, two counts of first-degree incest, two counts of second-degree child rape, one count of second-degree child molestation, one count of third-degree child rape, one count of indecent liberties, one count of voyeurism, and one count of attempted first-degree child rape.
The sexual abuses, which occurred between 2002 and 2009 in the Marietta-Alderwood area of Whatcom County, began when the two female children were between the ages of 4 and 11.
The girls, who were known to the Drakes, are now in their mid-to-late 20s.
Brian Drake was 10 years old, while Aaron Drake was 12 years old, at the time they first began abusing the two girls, court records show.
Brian Drake was arrested at his Bellingham residence on Tuesday, Sept. 19.
He is currently incarcerated in the Whatcom County Jail in lieu of $350,000 bail with no cash alternative, which was set at his first appearance in court Wednesday, Sept. 20.
A sexual assault protection order was also put in place between Brian Drake and the two victims, now women.
If Brian Drake posts bond and is released from custody, he will not be allowed to have contact with anyone under the age of 18.
His arraignment is scheduled for Sept. 29.
Aaron Drake is not yet in custody and a nationwide extraditable warrant for his arrest was issued Thursday.
Aaron Drake is described as a white adult male, with brown hair and green eyes, standing roughly 5 feet, 7 inches tall and weighing 180 pounds.
His last known address was in Billings, Montana, according to court records.
Aaron Drake is also facing a separate child sex crime case in Montana, in which he is accused of sexually assaulting an 8-year-old girl who was known to him.
He has been charged with one count of sexual intercourse without consent, one count of assault that inflicts bodily injury or the victim is under age 16, and two counts of assault with a weapon in the Montana case.
He was arrested last year for the alleged crimes, the court records state.
The Bellingham Herald has reached out to the Whatcom County prosecutor’s office and Brian Drake’s defense attorney for comment.
Initial disclosure In late February, a woman in her mid-20s went with her mother to the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office to report a sex crime that occurred in 2002.
The woman told detectives that beginning in 2002 when she was roughly 4 years old, Brian and Aaron Drake, who were known to the woman, started sexually abusing her.
The woman said the abuse continued until she was roughly 11 years old, according to court records.
The woman told detectives she began to remember certain incidents from her childhood and told her spouse in December 2022 that she was sexually abused as a child.
In early February, the woman disclosed the abuse to her parents, the court records state.
The woman told sheriff’s detectives that she was first abused by Brian Drake at age 4.
While she was in a car with Brian Drake, who was roughly 10 years old at the time, he began to touch her inappropriately while she was in her car seat.
The woman said no one else in the vehicle saw because the children were in the backseat at the time, according to court records.
The woman told detectives that she remembered both Brian and Aaron Drake sexually abusing her in specific locations in the Drakes’ Whatcom County home and in a tree fort all of the children had access to.
Aaron Drake was roughly 12 years old when he began abusing the girl.
She said that between the ages of 4 and 11, she was repeatedly groped, molested and raped by Brian and Aaron Drake.
The woman said that when she was between ages 4 and 7, the abuses were not as frequent or severe.
Once she turned 7, the abuse became more intense, severe and happened multiple times a week, she said.
She was regularly restrained and raped by the Drake brothers.
She said she experienced “trauma amnesia” from her childhood but that flashbacks were starting to come back to her, according to court documents.
The woman recounted horrific details of the abuse in which the Drake brothers would gag her with a cloth, saltine crackers, peanut butter or white bread and duct tape her mouth to muffle her screams while they raped her.
The woman said Brian and Aaron Drake “would team up” and restrain her using twine, rope, clothing, zip ties and wrist restraints to hold her down while they sexually abused her.
She also told detectives that Brian and Aaron Drake used multiple foreign objects to sexually assault her, the court records state.
The woman also disclosed to detectives incidents where she was suffocated and choked by Brian Drake.
She said Brian Drake threatened her by telling her that if she told anyone, “things were going to get worse.
” Brian Drake also told the girl he would kill her if she said anything, according to court records.
The woman said that when she was around 8 or 9 years old, Aaron and Brian Drake would sexually assault her at the same time.
The woman told detectives that she would often be forced into a room with Brian and Aaron Drake and one would block the door while the other sexually assaulted her.
The men would then switch, the records state.
She also said there were times when Brian Drake would sexually assault her without Aaron Drake.
When the woman would tell him to stop, Brian Drake would tell the woman he could “make it feel better for her,” the court documents state.
The woman told detectives that Brian and Aaron Drake did not use condoms when they raped her, but said she thinks the Drake brothers began using condoms after she experienced a pregnancy scare.
The woman said “she felt a lot of pain, shame and guilt.
She advised she tried to disassociate as much as possible during this time,” court records state.
The woman told detectives she thinks she may have physical scars from some of the abuse.
The woman told detectives the sexual assaults stopped when Brian and Aaron Drake’s parents found one of Aaron Drake’s journal entries on his computer.
Aaron Drake had written that he was sorry for what he did, and named a second female child in his apology.
The entry did not include details, but did state that Aaron Drake was sorry, court documents show.
Second disclosure The second woman, who is now in her late 20s, told sheriff’s detectives that she was also sexually abused by Brian and Aaron Drake when she was a child.
In an early June interview with sheriff’s detectives, the woman disclosed that she was repeatedly raped and molested by Brian and Aaron Drake, who were known to her, while she was between the ages of 11 and 16.
The woman said she was first sexually abused by Aaron Drake in 2005 when she was 11 years old.
Aaron Drake was roughly 15 at the time.
She told detectives the assaults started with minor touches during things like back massages.
The woman said it “made her very uncomfortable and (she) didn’t know how to say anything about it,” the court records state.
The woman told detectives Aaron and Brian Drake would sexually assault her at the same time and that the brothers would “feed off of each other in what they were doing.
” When she would tell the Drake brothers “no,” they would make her feel guilty.
She said they would tell her she would get into trouble if she didn’t do what they wanted her to, court records show.
The woman told detectives Aaron and Brian Drake would say cruel things to her and make her “feel ‘dirty’ all the time.
” She said she felt like Aaron and Brian Drake coerced her to have sex with them, documents state.
The woman said she “remembers a lot of things happened over and over again and it all flashes together,” according to court records.
The woman told detectives that both Aaron and Brian Drake raped her when she was between 11 and 16 years old.
She said neither of the men would use condoms while they sexually assaulted her.
The woman told detectives she would punch herself in the stomach to try to cause a miscarriage in case she was pregnant.
The woman said this was before she was physically able to have children, court records show.
The woman also confirmed that the sexual abuse stopped when Aaron and Brian Drake’s parents found Aaron Drake’s journal entry stating he was sorry for what he had done to her.
Church contact Sheriff’s detectives learned that Aaron and Brian Drake’s parents had questioned the boys about the abuse.
The parents said they were under the impression the Drake brothers were only inappropriate with the two girls “a couple of times,” court documents state.
The first woman told detectives she and the second girl didn’t fully disclose the abuse to the Drake brothers’ parents because they were scared.
Brian and Aaron Drake’s parents told detectives that they sought help from their church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the Mormon Church.
The church told Brian and Aaron Drake’s parents to separate the boys from the two girls, according to court records.
When contacted by sheriff’s detectives, the bishop of the church confirmed he had met with Brian and Aaron Drake’s parents in 2009 or 2010.
The bishop said he was told there were “some inappropriate actions toward” the girls.
The bishop told detectives that “safety measures” had been put in place “to protect the girls” and that Brian and Aaron Drake’s parents were seeking legal counsel, according to court records.
Admissions Sheriff’s detectives also contacted Brian Drake’s ex-wife, with whom he has a 5-year-old daughter.
The woman told detectives that “she has been waiting for several years for a call from law enforcement,” court documents state.
The woman told detectives in February 2018 that the first woman disclosed to her that she had been sexually abused by Brian Drake as a child.
Brian Drake’s ex-wife told detectives she didn’t remember specifics, but remembered the woman told her Brian Drake raped her.
Brian Drake’s ex-wife confronted him about the allegations later that same day and recorded the conversation.
During the confrontation, Brian Drake admitted to sexually abusing the second woman and did not deny sexually abusing the first woman, according to court documents.
On the recording, Brian Drake said “he thought that part of his life was ‘done and over with and buried.
’” He then told his ex-wife that he had gone to the bishop and the stake president at the church about the abuses and “received counseling,” the records state.
“That was who I was and that’s not who I am anymore,” Brian Drake said on the recording.
He also told his ex-wife that there had been something wrong with him since he was at least 3 years old and that “there’s something incredibly wrong with him,” according to court records.
After Brian Drake admitted to the sexual abuse, he threatened to kill himself.
He prepared apology notes to both women.
His ex-wife took possession of the letters and kept them, the court documents state.
Sheriff’s detectives arrested Brian Drake at his Bellingham home on Tuesday, Sept. 19.
During a two-hour interview with detectives, Brian Drake admitted to sexually assaulting both women multiple times with and without his brother, Aaron Drake, according to court records.
Browse the Mormon Sexual Abuse Database
Browse the Mormon sexual abuse database »View the Mormon Sexual Abuse Map
International map of locations where active members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints perpetrated or allegedly perpetrated sexual abuse or other sex crimes, or where LDS leaders failed or allegedly failed to help abuse survivors.
Visit the FLOODLIT Map