Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
They met through friends using the Bumble dating app
COLFAX – Two people using the Bumble dating app introduced two friends and it ended with one raping a 20-year-old Washington State University student.
Matthew A, Gladden, 18, of Tukwila, was charged in Whitman County Superior Court on May 12 with rape in the second degree and assault in the second degree with sexual motivation.
He enters a plea during his pending arraignment on May 21.
Gladden met the student through a friend. The male friend met a woman through the dating app Bumble.
Gladden’s friend and the victim’s friend agreed to meet at Reany Park and each bring another person. The four people obtained alcohol and went to the women’s home, according to the police report.
Gladden allegedly was “acting up and talking about being ‘hood’ …” and kicked the victim in the face, then cried saying he didn’t mean to hit her.
The friends, who met through Bumble, left to a bedroom. The women continued a Snapchat social app conversation showing the victim was not interested in sex.
Gladden reportedly tried to kiss the victim repeatedly while choking her.
“(She) said that her vision got ‘black like a TV fading in’ when he did this. (She) said this lasted for several minutes,” wrote a Pullman police officer.
She told him to stop and get off of her, as well as pushing him away with her hands, according to court records.
Gladden is accused of later raping her and injuring her during his attack.
The victim’s friend had a male neighbor remove Gladden and his male friend.
The victim was taken to the police department and the Pullman Regional Hospital emergency room.
When police spoke to Gladden he reportedly admitted to smoking marijuana and drinking alcohol, but didn’t remember “anything that occurred between him and (the victim) after that,” according to the police report.
He claimed his memory loss was due to the anxiety medication, Citalopram.
Pullman police arrested Gladden on May 7.
A court order prevents him from contacting the victim for a year or go within 500 feet of her home, workplace, or school.
Bill Stevenson is the former editor of the Whitman County Gazette, Colfax Daily Bulletin and Franklin Connection. He has nearly 30 years of journalism experience covering news in Eastern Washington.
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