KENNEWICK — A convicted child molester admitted to forging his son's name on a document in an attempt to get the Washington state Supreme Court to throw out his case.

Allen Frederick Rexus already is serving a minimum 20-year sentence in prison for sexually assaulting a young girl over at least 1 1/2 years and photographing the acts.

Now he has another six months tacked onto the prison term for forgery.

Rexus, 43, pleaded guilty June 24 in Benton County Superior Court, and on Thursday had a no-contact order entered involving his grown son.

"I falsely made an affidavit and signed a name to the affidavit," Rexus wrote in his plea statement. "I forged that signature. The false affidavit was submitted to the Washington Supreme Court on my petition for review."

Rexus, of Kennewick, was first arrested in May 2005 after a digital camera was turned over to Kennewick police. The camera showed Rexus engaged in sex acts with the grade-school girl, according to court documents and police.

Officers later searched Rexus' West Third Avenue home and seized computers, computer disks and digital pictures.

The girl told her mother that Rexus "did bad things to me" and "took pictures in the bathroom when I wasn't dressed," the mother told a corrections official in an interview.

Rexus opted for a stipulated-facts trial in January 2006 so the victim wouldn't have to testify in court.

Then-Superior Court Judge Dennis Yule found Rexus guilty of one count of first-degree rape of a child and three counts of first-degree child molestation. He ordered Rexus to do a minimum of 20 years, but said his ultimate release is up to a state board because the sex crime qualifies for an indeterminate sentence.

At sentencing, Yule said Rexus' actions defy understanding and noted that Rexus still refused to acknowledge his role in the crimes.

While behind bars, Rexus filed a personal restraint petition with the Supreme Court arguing that his son "did not have the authority to consent to a search of a camera," Deputy Prosecutor Terry Bloor wrote in documents for the forgery case.

Rexus later filed another document apparently signed by his son on Dec. 17, 2008, and notarized by someone from Kennewick's Sterling Savings Bank.

A few days after the filing, Rexus sent his son a letter that said: "Before you get mad, understand that I did what I did (made up a statement) because it is the truth, and I had to prove my point. I will take whatever consequence comes my way (if that ever happens) for forging your signature. I need the truth to come out, and you chose not to get a statement to me in time. You will not be in any trouble for this. I will if it's found out."

The Sterling Savings official told police that she records each notary transaction and did notarize a letter on July 8, 2008, for Rexus' son. That letter was labeled, "police statement."

But she said she did not notarize another document or letter for the son.

Rexus, who has been held in the Benton County jail since June 10, will now be returned to prison to continue serving his time.

-- Kristin M. Kraemer: 509-582-1531; kkraemer@tricityherald.com