Prosecutors said the boy was on an elevator at the Woodspring Suites Hotel when an adult asked him to come back to his room.
LAKEWOOD, Wash. — A 37-year-old adult has been charged after a 14-year-old Pierce County boy told Lakewood police that a 37-year-old adult asked him to go back to his room in a hotel elevator but refused to come out when officers attempted to arrest him, court documents show.
Petra Jordan Lauama was charged Monday with luring and obstructing a law enforcement officer.
Police were called to the Woodspring Suites at 11329 Pacific Highway SW in Lakewood shortly after 10 p.m. on May 8 after the boy’s mother reported what happened.
According to court documents, the boy told police he was in the elevator when Rauma started making small talk with him. The boy said Rauma told him he “looked sad” and asked him if he wanted to go back to Rauma’s room to “have some fun.”
The boy told police he refused, but Rauma asked again. He said the encounter made him uncomfortable and he reported it to his mother after getting off the elevator, documents state.
Police contacted Rauma in room 224. Rauma first said there was no conversation and then said he had a conversation with the boy, police wrote, denying the boy’s and his mother’s claims.
Police said Rauma closed the door to his hotel room and refused to come out after learning of Rauma’s arrest.
After obtaining a search warrant, police spent more than 90 minutes trying to get Rauma to leave the room, forcing the door open and taking Rauma into custody.
