SPOKANE -- Spokane County Prosecutors filed child-rape charges against a man Tuesday morning relying on a state statute that they have never tested before.

KREM.com

Ethan Hansen, 28, is charged with two counts of first-degree child rape of his twin daughters who were 3-years-old at the time.

Prosecutors allege Hansen - a former nurse at Sacred Heart Hospital - molested the girls on six occassions.

Sacred Heart Hospital officials suspended Hansen in February.

In the charging documents, prosecutors say Hansen told his wife of these incidences as he was becoming more concerned about his own behavior.

His wife contacted police who interviewed Hansen who acknowledged he digitally penetrated his daughters at least a half-dozen times.

What is different about this case for prosecutors is the fact that a never-before used statute allows them to prosecute Hansen on just his testimony alone.

Passed into law in 2004, RCW 1058.035, allows prosecutors to charge a case on only the statement of a defendant.

"In the past a statement alone wasn't enough," said Deputy Prosecutor Kelly Fitzgerald. "We needed independent evidence of the statement itself."

The law allows for the prosecution of such statements as they relate to victims who may have been killed or are incompetent to testify.

In the case of Hansen's daughters, both girls suffer learning disabilities and Fitzgerald does not believe that they are competent enough to testify against the admitted actions of their father.

Only one other case in Washington - State vs. Keith Dow (Cowlitz County) has ever utilized the little-used statute. That case is still pending.

Hansen was never arrested or booked into jail.

In February, the Washington State Department of Health suspended Hansen's credentials for the sexual misconduct charges.

Hansen's arraignment is scheduled for Aug. 4 at 10 a.m.