Man sentenced to prison after woman was raped in Washington car dealership’s bathroom
A 28-year-old man was sentenced to prison after a woman was raped inside a Washington car dealership bathroom, officials said.
Christopher Edward Teel was sentenced to 8 1/2 years in prison on Dec. 10 in Seattle after he was convicted of first-degree rape and unlawful imprisonment, according to the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.
An attorney for Teel did not immediately respond to McClatchy News’ request for comment.
In 2018, the woman went to a Volkswagen dealership in the Ballard neighborhood to have her car worked on around 7 a.m., police said in the probable cause statement at that time.
She went to use the dealership’s bathroom before catching a shuttle to her work, police said.
The dealership was under construction so there was a portable men’s and women’s bathroom. The woman went into a bathroom stall and locked the stall door behind her.
Teel entered the women’s bathroom and locked the bathroom door behind him, police said in the statement.
Then he pounded on her stall, forced himself into her space after the stall’s lock broke and pushed her to the ground, where he is accused of raping her, police said.
A car dealership employee knocked on the door and the victim was able to run toward the door and open it, police said.
Other employees restrained Teel on the ground until police came, the statement says.
If you have experienced sexual assault and need someone to talk to, call the National Sexual Assault Hotline for support at 1-800-656-4673 or chat with a trained staff member online.
This story was originally published December 14, 2021 at 2:34 PM with the headline "Man sentenced to prison after woman was raped in Washington car dealership’s bathroom."
