• Anger, sex obsessions led to fall of Goulet, father says

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. » A man who allegedly shot and killed two police detectives investigating a sexual assault complaint in Santa Cruz, Calif., on Tuesday was accused of raping two women in Hawaii about six years ago, his former defense lawyer said.

The suspect, Jeremy Goulet, 35, was fatally shot Tuesday by authorities after a brief chase, authorities said.

Honolulu attorney Don Wilkerson said Wednesday that he represented Goulet in two courts-martial when he was in his late 20s.

"He was here in Hawaii about one week or less before he was accused of the first rape," he said.

Goulet was an Army helicopter pilot stationed at Wheeler Army Airfield and was accused of raping two women within two months after his arrival in Hawaii, Wilkerson said.

The Army dropped both rape cases against Goulet, a warrant officer, in return for his agreement to accept "an other than honorable discharge (different from a dishonorable discharge)," Wilkerson said.

Wilkerson said he heard news of the shooting on television Wednesday, checked the Internet, found a photo of the suspect and confirmed it was his former client.

Goulet was arrested Friday after a co-worker at a Santa Cruz coffee shop alleged he went to her house and made inappropriate sexual advances. The Santa Cruz Sentinel reported that he was fired the next day.

To investigate the complaint, the detectives went to the house where Goulet was living and an altercation ensued Tuesday afternoon, leading to the officers being fired upon, authorities said.

The detectives called for backup and neighbors also summoned police. Responding officers located Goulet a short time later. The sheriff’s office said he was killed in the gunfire that followed.

Police Chief Kevin Vogel said Sgt. Loren Butch Baker, a 28-year veteran, and Detective Elizabeth Butler, a 10-year veteran, were shot and killed.

"There aren’t words to describe this horrific tragedy," Vogel said.

Goulet worked as a barista at a coffee shop in the Santa Cruz harbor. He was convicted in Portland, Ore., in May 2008 of peeping at a 22-year-old woman who was showering in her condominium and of carrying a concealed weapon, according to a Portland newspaper, The Oregonian. He was put on probation but, after a dispute with his probation officer, was sentenced to two years in jail.

In the Hawaii cases, Goulet was accused of the first rape less than a week after his arrival in Hawaii. Wilkerson said Goulet had gone to a party in Ewa Beach with some soldiers. He was accused of crawling into the bathroom window of a female officer’s home and sexually assaulting her.

Within a couple of months, he was charged with a second rape. In that case, he had been assigned to oversee a group of soldiers temporarily housed in the barracks and scheduled to deploy to Afghan­istan or Iraq the next morning. He was accused of raping a female soldier who was in the barracks.

The Associated Press and Star-Advertiser reporter Leila Fujimori contributed to this report.