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$2 Million Bail Set for Salkum Man Facing 16 Child Sexual Assault Charges

The Chronicle - 2/6/2021

Feb. 5—Bail has been set at $2 million for a man facing 16 sexual assault charges for allegedly abusing up to four children over 12 years.

Bernardino Antonio Santiago, 52, of Salkum, has been charged with first-, second- and third-degree rape of a child, first-, second- and third-degree child molestation, third-degree rape, harassment, threat to kill, and five additional sexual assault charges. Of those 16 charges, four carry a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.

"He is potentially looking at spending the rest of his life in prison," said Judge J. Andrew Toynbee at Santiago's preliminary hearing in Lewis County Superior Court on Friday.

Santiago allegedly groomed and regularly assaulted up to four children between 2008 and October 2020, when one of the victims reported the ongoing abuse. Santiago allegedly threatened to kill at least one of the victims and then kill himself if anyone found out about the abuse, according to the probable cause affidavit in Lewis County Superior Court.

He allegedly admitted to the abuse of multiple victims while holding a gun pointed at a woman related to one of the victims "and said that if he goes down for what he did to (the victim) then she would go down with him," according to court documents.

Additionally, he reportedly stated that "he would flee to Mexico if he felt he was going to be prosecuted."

Santiago was arrested and booked into the Lewis County Jail at 11:35 a.m. on Feb. 4.

"It may be overkill," Toynbee said of the bail amount, but he added that he felt it was justified due to the number of charges, the severity of charges and the reported threats he made to either kill the victims or flee the country if he was prosecuted.

"This is an extremely severe case, so I believe that amount is necessary," Toynbee said,

He is scheduled for arraignment and trial setting on Feb. 18.

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