Ex-security guard accused of raping 12-year-old Idaho girl hidden in Tri-Cities home
A former security guard is accused of hiding a 12-year-old runaway in his room in Kennewick for five days and raping her.
Then a neighbor got suspicious and called police.
When officers found the girl in Austin Holbrook’s parents’ home, she also was dehydrated and malnourished, according to court documents.
Holbrook, 20, faces two counts of second-degree child rape with the special allegation of her being a runaway.
He is being held in the Benton County jail in lieu of bail of $500,000.
Holbrook met the Nampa, Idaho, preteen through the Hily dating app, court documents said.
The app users are supposed to be 18 or older, according to the service’s community rules.
After talking with the girl, he allegedly arranged to pick her up. He drove from Kennewick to Idaho in his father’s Dodge Durango to pick her up on March 15.
Holbrook told investigators he parked around the corner while she sneaked out of her house, according to court documents.
The girl told police that Holbrook said he would protect her if her mom filed a missing person report.
He allegedly had inappropriate contact with the girl at an Oregon gas station, and then took her to his home in Kennewick.
He had her hide in his room while his mom was home, and she could only leave to shower and eat after his mom left. He also allegedly sexually assaulted her while in his room, court documents said.
A neighbor noticed Holbrook’s suspiciously young “girlfriend” and called police, court documents said. Detectives found Holbrook and the girl in the East 16th Avenue home.
A medical exam found she was malnourished and dehydrated.
She told investigators Holbrook was speaking with her 13- and 14-year-old friends as well. He told her that once she turned 18, they could move in together.
The Nampa Police Department has issued a notice asking anyone who had contact with Holbrook to reach out to them.
When Holbrook talked to investigators, he was concerned he would get in trouble because the victim’s mother lied about her age.
He insisted that the girl told him that she was 18, so he chose to believe that. He allegedly admitted to inappropriate contact with the girl.
“During the deputy’s conversation with Austin, he did not mention any moral or legal objection to potentially having a relationship with a 12-year-old girl, but he did state he was horrified of being labeled a pedophile, due to the effect it would have on his new job,” according to the affidavit of probable cause.
While the court documents don’t say what his new job was, his LinkedIn profile says his most recent job was in Boardman, Ore., as an unarmed security guard. He was no longer working there as of November 2023.
