A jury found a former Seattle Police Department sergeant guilty Wednesday afternoon of four counts related to the rape and molestation of his two older daughters.
Daniel Amador, 46, was convicted of first-degree child molestation, second-degree child rape, third-degree child rape and first-degree incest. Having been out of custody on bail, he was detained after the verdict at Seattle’s King County Superior Court.
Amador routinely raped his older daughter, A.B., about five times a week and also molested his younger daughter, C.A.
SeattlePI is withholding their names to protect their privacy.
Both women, now ages 24 and 19, described a childhood in which A.B. was the favorite child and C.A. was regularly belittled.
A.B. testified to undergoing regular “pinnings,” which involved Amador holding her down in his bed and talking with her extensively while either touching private body parts or raping her.
“I wasn’t allowed to have secrets from him,” A.B. testified June 5.
The rapes began when she was about 9 years old and continued until she was in college.
For C.A., the “pinnings” were more of a punishment, she testified. Amador would lie on top of her and grope her while they were sometimes partially or fully naked.
Amador also sent C.A. to watch cartoons for hours while he held A.B. in his bedroom with a dresser pulled in front of a closed door.
A cousin of the girls called CPS in 2013 after C.A., who began cutting herself about age 12, confided in him about the “pinnings.”
A.B. hadn’t divulged her rapes to anyone. Up for promotion at SPD, Amador reportedly advised his family about how much they all could lose if he were to be arrested.
“If I helped keep CPS away, it would help keep us together,” A.B. said of that time.
SPD promoted Amador to sergeant that August.
Amador left his wife — the girls’ mother — the next year and moved in with another woman whom he later married.
While in college, in March 2016, A.B. finally opened up to her sister about her abuse. She was motivated by the knowledge that Amador’s new wife was pregnant with a girl.
“I just thought about immediately all the times I would watch cartoons for hours and I was completely oblivious and she had been getting hurt her whole life,” C.A. testified. “And I didn’t know.”
They turned their father in to police and the Lake Forest Park Police Department arrested him in April 2016. He posted $750,000 bail and resigned from SPD in June that year after serving 21 years with the agency.
Amador was only allowed supervised visitation with his youngest daughter while he was out of custody.
He kissed his tearful wife before a deputy escorted him out of the courtroom Wednesday.
Amador will be sentenced on a date to be later determined.