Blaine man arrested on suspicion of rape

By Oliver Lazenby

A Blaine man was arrested on November 13 on allegations that he raped a 44-year-old Bellingham woman.

Ruben Barrios Ibarro, 52, was booked into Whatcom County jail on suspicion of second-degree rape after an October 27 incident at a Birch Bay house.

Ibarro arranged for the Bellingham woman to pick him up and take him to a friend’s house in Birch Bay where other people were hanging out, according to a statement from Whatcom County undersheriff Jeff Parks.

After drinking a couple of alcoholic drinks given to her by Ibarro, the woman passed out. She later woke up in a bedroom to find Ibarro having sex with her, she told detectives. She became ill and said she wanted to go home. She did not remember some details but said she did not give consent and did not intend to have relations with the suspect, according to the statement from the sheriff’s office.

She left the house and told her family she’d been raped. Detectives contacted her at a hospital, where she was undergoing a sexual assault examination, and developed probable cause for a degree rape charge.

Ibarra was released on bail on November 15. A trial is scheduled for January 29, according to court documents.