Hoh tribal officer charged with rape of a child

FORKS, Wash. — A Hoh tribal law enforcement officer has been charged in two counties with the rape of a 15-year-old girl.

The Peninsula Daily News reports 43-year-old Fisheries Enforcement Officer Ernest Penn was charged Wednesday in Jefferson County with rape of a child and communications with a minor for immoral purposes.

In Clallam County, he's charged with five counts of rape of a child and one count of communication with a minor for immoral purposes.

Penn was arrested this week in Forks.

The teen told police she met Penn at a gym in October 2017 and that they had sex regularly until several months ago when she began distancing herself from Penn.

She told investigators that Penn said he would kill himself if she left him.

It wasn't known if he has a lawyer.