Child sex assault charges leveled in Colorado last year against the brother of Rachel Dolezal, the embattled former Spokane, Wash., NAACP chapter president, appear entwined in her infamous — and now global — story.
Dolezal began grabbing headlines last week when her parents told reporters she is actually a white woman who for years has pretended to be black. Legal matters in Colorado have surfaced as a focal point in the family drama at the center of the controversy.
A source close to the sex assault case said Monday that 39-year-old Joshua Dolezal, awaiting trial in Clear Creek County on four counts of child sex assault by one in a position of trust, is her brother.
The Daily News in New York City, which broke news of the Colorado connection, on Sunday reported Rachel Dolezal has been supporting her brother’s alleged victim. In an interview last week with The Spokesman-Review in Spokane, Rachel Dolezal said she was suspicious of her parents’ timing in discussing her ancestry since it came as her brother faces a “key juncture” in a Colorado legal case.
Rachel Dolezal’s parents, who have distributed photos of her as a girl with a pale complexion and straight blond hair, declined to comment when asked by a TV reporter about the Colorado case.
Joshua Dolezal is accused of assaulting a child who was about 6 years old in 2000 or 2001 in Clear Creek County where the Dolezals lived at the time, according to an arrest affidavit. The alleged victim told investigators Joshua Dolezal also abused another person.
The affidavit shows that after the allegations were reported in July 2013, a detective interviewed someone in Spokane as part of the investigation. The person’s name is redacted in the report.
The alleged victim told investigators Joshua Dolezal warned, “Don’t tell anyone or I’ll hurt you,” according to the affidavit. It also says the person decided to come forward after the birth of Joshua Dolezal’s daughter because of concerns about the child’s well-being.
He was charged in March 2014 and is free on $15,000 bail, according to court records.
Joshua Dolezal is scheduled to face trial in August. Neither Dolezal nor his Denver-based lawyers responded to messages seeking comment. Fifth Judicial District Attorney Bruce Brown also declined to comment.
Ruthanne and Larry Dolezal, in an interview about their daughter with Spokane television station KHQ last week, avoided questions about any family legal matters in Colorado.
“It’s better if we don’t (comment),” Larry Dolezal told the station. “It’s a separate matter.”
On NBC’s Today, Dolezal’s parents said Monday they disclosed their daughter’s true race because they didn’t want to lie to an inquiring reporter.
“I think Rachel has tried to damage her biological family,” Ruthanne Dolezal said. She said Rachel began to “disguise herself” after her parents adopted four African-American children more than a decade ago.
Rachel Dolezal resigned Monday as president of the NAACP’s Spokane chapter, saying the attention surrounding her race has distracted from the group’s goals.
Spokane officials are investigating whether she lied about her ethnicity when she landed an appointment to the city’s police oversight board. On her application, she said her ethnic origins included white, black and American Indian.
Dolezal, a 37-year-old with a light brown complexion and dark curly hair, graduated from historically black Howard University, teaches African studies at a local university and was married to a black man. For years, she has publicly complained of being the victim of racial hatred in the overwhelmingly white region.
Rachel Dolezal initially dismissed the ancestral controversy and sidestepped questions about her race.
In resigning, Dolezal said that under her leadership the NAACP chapter acquired an office, increased membership, improved finances and made other improvements. She said the conversation had “unexpectedly shifted internationally to my personal identity in the context of defining race and ethnicity.”
Jesse Paul: 303-954-1733, jpaul@denverpost.com or twitter.com/JesseAPaul
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
