PORT ORCHARD — Former Poulsbo resident Ronald Lee Paulson will serve 12 years in prison for the mid-1980s rapes of a minor. He was on the run for almost 30 years until Poulsbo police, with the assistance of other law enforcement agencies, tracked him down in Oklahoma, where he was living under an assumed identity.
Kitsap County Superior Court Judge Kevin Hull on Nov. 17 gave Paulson the high end of the sentence based on the recommendation of community corrections officers’ pre-sentencing investigation report: 144 months for four counts of first-degree statutory rape, 75 months for one count of indecent liberties, and 22 months for one count of bail jumping.
Paulson, 71, will serve the sentence concurrently, in addition to 36 months in community custody — formerly called parole — after his release from prison.
Paulson initially claimed he was innocent, but entered an Alford plea, in which the defendant does not admit guilt but acknowledges that there is enough evidence for conviction. The state Department of Corrections took custody of him on Nov. 21 and he was transported from Kitsap County Jail to Shelton, where the prison in which he will be incarcerated will be determined.
Two community corrections officers who interviewed Paulson for the pre-sentencing report wrote that Paulson claims he’s innocent and that “the only reason I took the Alford Plea was to keep people from getting hurt.” He also gave different stories regarding responsibility for the killing of his mother, for which he was convicted when he was 14 and sent to a state school.
In a series in October, the North Kitsap Herald reported that Paulson, at age 28, married a 13-year-old girl with whom he had two children; he was still married to his first wife, making him a bigamist. He committed bigamy again while a fugitive.
Regarding the rapes, “Although Paulson admitted committing the alleged crimes during the original interview [in the mid 1980s], he adamantly denied having broken any laws during this interview.” the corrections officers reported. “It seemed as if Paulson felt his last 30 years of being crime- and drug-free excused his past behaviors. This includes him murdering his foster mother when he was 14 years old.”
While living in Poulsbo in the 1970s and 1980s, Paulson was a car salesman and a professional country musician. According to court documents, he told a mental health professional and, later, a police investigator about the statutory rapes when he checked himself in for mental health treatment. He had undergone treatment and monitoring for a similar crime three years earlier; he was prescribed lithium, according to his wife at the time. This time, he was arrested and charged but jumped bail.
While in Oklahoma, Paulson worked as a roofing salesman, became a minister, conducted spiritual retreats, and raised money for preservation of a historic theater in downtown Shawnee. A police officer there who arrested him for extradition to Kitsap County said Paulson’s arrest shocked the community.
“Paulson has a dark side which he now chooses to repress,” the officer wrote the pre-sentencing report. “Until Paulson can come to terms with his past behavior, he will not fully be capable of understanding the pain, hurt, and suffering he has inflicted on people that trusted, cared and loved him.”
In an earlier interview with the North Kitsap Herald, Paulson’s current wife defended her husband as “a good, honest, hardworking man” who “very much loves the Lord.” She added, “People have a right to change. The man who is accused is not the man I’ve spent my life with. It’s not the same person.”
His victim in the mid-1980s rapes, recounting how the crimes affected her life, told the court she feels Paulson “should go away to jail forever.”
— Richard Walker is managing editor of Kitsap News Group. Contact him at rwalker@soundpublishing.com
