More than a decade after a young girl first disclosed she was the victim of repeated sexual assaults, the Everson man responsible has been sent to prison.

Joel Duane Zwald, 56, was sentenced Jan. 31 in Whatcom County Superior Court to a mandatory minimum of 14 years and two months in prison, with a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Zwald was given an indeterminate sentence, which means he’s required to serve the minimum 14 years in prison, but could be held for life, pending review by the Indeterminate Sentencing Review Board, according to court records.

Once Zwald has served most of the required time in prison, the board will review his status. It will review his criminal convictions, his behavior while incarcerated and it will conduct several evaluations to determine whether it would be safe to release him into the community.

If not, Zwald will remain in prison and be evaluated again at a later date. This process can continue for the entirety of Zwald’s life as part of his indeterminate sentence.

A jury found Zwald guilty Oct. 20 of one count of second-degree child rape, one count of second-degree child molestation and one count of third-degree child molestation after roughly a week-long trial.

In a letter submitted to the court, the grandmother of the victim said Zwald was the “evil” she was trying to protect her daughters and grandchildren from. The woman said she was proud of the victim for “being brave enough” to report Zwald’s sexual abuse, and said she hoped the victim never has to think about Zwald again, the court records show.

Zwald was arrested in November 2019 after a month-long investigation by the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office.

Sheriff’s detectives determined Zwald sexually assaulted a female child known to him multiple times between March 2016 and October 2019, according to court records.

The girl, who was around 11 or 12 years old when Zwald started sexually abusing her, had previously disclosed the abuse to Bellingham police in 2012. Because of discrepancies between the girl’s and Zwald’s accounts of where the abuse occurred, no charges were filed after the victim’s disclosure, court records show. The Whatcom County Prosecutor’s Office ultimately declined to file charges against Zwald due to insufficient evidence, the records state.

The victim again disclosed the sexual abuse to a school counselor in 2019, which led to Zwald’s arrest and subsequent conviction, the court records show.

During an interview with Washington State Department of Corrections officials conducted during Zwald’s presentencing investigation, the victim said she feels that her and her child’s lives are safer now that Zwald has been convicted. She said that as long as Zwald’s sentence was longer than she has been alive, she was likely okay with the amount of time, the court records state.

Zwald has since appealed his conviction and sentence. His appeals case is pending, according to court records.

Resources

If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence or sexual assault, you can contact the following local resources for free, confidential support:

Domestic Violence & Sexual Assault Services: 24-hour Help Line: 360-715-1563, Email: info@dvsas.org.

Lummi Victims of Crime: 360-312-2015.

Tl’ils Ta’á’altha Victims of Crime: 360-325-3310 or nooksacktribe.org/departments/youth-family-services/tlils-taaaltha-victims-of-crime-program/

Bellingham Police: You can call anonymously at 360-778-8611, or go online at cob.org/tips.

WWU Survivor Advocacy Services at the Counseling & Wellness Center: 360-650-7982 or https://cwc.wwu.edu/survivorservices.

Brigid Collins Family Support Center: 360-734-4616, brigidcollins.org.