The victim in a Washington state sex assault now linked to a 32-year-old Lakewood man was charged with false reporting and paid a $500 fine in 2008 because police didn’t believe her story.

Authorities in Lynnwood, Wash., reopened their case and reimbursed the woman after Colorado detectives found pictures of the victim on a camera belonging to Marc O’Leary, an Army veteran charged in two similar cases in Golden and Westminster, Lynnwood police Cmdr. Steve Rider said.

O’Leary, who has not been charged in the Lynnwood case, lived in nearby Mountlake Terrace, Wash., from 2006 to 2009.

“At the time (2008) information came up that basically led investigators to make the wrong conclusion about the case,” Rider said.

Rider declined to elaborate, but did say there were “strong similarities” between the Lynnwood case and the Colorado cases.

Detectives testified during a court hearing in Jefferson County Monday that the attacker in the Golden and Westminster cases, as well as the Lynnwood case and another under investigation in Aurora, was meticulous about not leaving evidence at the scene.

He wore gloves and a mask, and brought with him wet wipes to clean up the scene after assaulting women for hours. Afterward, he made his victims brush their teeth and shower, and he took their clothes and bedding with him when he left, Golden Det. Stacy Galbraith said.

The attacker also took hundreds of photos of his victims throughout the assaults.

When police raided O’Leary’s home at 65 Harlan Street last month, they found photos of the victims on cameras in the home, Galbraith said.

They somehow identified images of one of the women as being from Lynnwood, and contacted police there last month.

Rider said he and another investigator traveled to Colorado one week after getting the call.

They immediately reopened their case, which has now been sent to Snohomish County prosecutors.

Rider said the victim in the Lynnwood case, whom police did not identify, was assigned a public defender in 2008 and ultimately agreed to a plea deal to avoid a trial. Her case was dismissed in 2010, after she completed conditions of the plea, which included counseling.

Police are now working with prosecutors to have the woman’s record expunged, Rider said.

O’Leary is charged in Colorado with 28 counts — including sex assault, kidnapping and burglary — for the attacks in Golden in January and Westminster in 2010, and for an attempted assault in Lakewood in 2010.

Rider said Lynnwood police are working with other area departments to determine if they had reports of similar cases.

“We really appreciate Colorado’s work on this case,” he said. “Without them, this would have gone into the annals of time as a false report.”

Sara Burnett: 303-954-1661 or sburnett@denverpost.com