Chelan County Judge Tosses Rape Charges Against Registered Sex Offender

Police mishandled evidence in a case involving a registered sex offender in Chelan County, which leads to the dismissal of third-degree rape charges.

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That's the ruling from a Chelan County judge earlier this week, as Superior Court Judge Travis Brandt tossed the charges against 29-year-old Bernadino Dwite Hamilton. He still faces 23 counts of communicating with a minor for immoral purposes and one count of sexual exploitation of a minor. Hamilton is already a registered sex offender fo a 2019 conviction for second-degree child molestation.

Authorities arrested Hamilton in January 2023 on suspiction of attempting to lure teenage girls using social media.

Tuesday, Brandt acted on a motion from Hamilton's defense attorney and ruled the Chelan County Prosecuting Attorney's Office failed in its obligation to turn over evidence to the case.

Sheriff's deputies seized two phones from Hamilton, whose attorneys made multiple requests to prosecutors to examine them between April 2023 and March 2024. The motion to dismiss said the prosecution ignored or provided unusual terms to requests to access the phone. Chelan County deputy prosecutor Julia Hartnell resided over the case, while Micaela Meadows took over after Hartnell left the office in summer 2023.

The defense learned investigators never obtained a court warrant to search the phones and police activated and used the phone from Jan. 6, 2023 until the day after Hamilton's arrest Jan. 11. The phone also accessed multiple Facebook accounts while in police control.

Brandt said evidence prosecutors retrieved from the phone only pertained to the three third-degree rape charges, and dismissed those counts.

Hamilton remains in jail on a $250,000 bond with his next hearing scheduled for Monday.