A drifter accused of raping an intoxicated woman in Bolinas six years ago finally saw his day in court last Friday, after his arrest outside Portland led to his transfer into Marin authorities’ custody. On Sept. 1, 2008, a Kentfield woman drank two 16-ounce malt liquor beverages at her home before a friend picked her up and drove her to Bolinas. Sitting by the pier on Wharf Road, she had another beer. Around 4:15 p.m., as the woman was sitting on a bench in front of St. Aidan’s Episcopal Church, Tommie Jo Salmon, now a 38-year-old carnival worker, approached her. A “train hopper” or “rover,” Mr. Salmon had unkempt dirty blond hair that clung to his shoulders, and rotted teeth. He asked the woman if she needed a place to stay for the night, offered her a sip of a drink and told her, “I have a place on the beach.” The woman said she could not remember much of what occurred next when she reported the incident to a sheriff’s deputy the next day. She walked to the beach willingly and slept on top of a sleeping bag. An hour before sunrise she was awoken by the grating touch of Mr. Salmon’s hand trying to fondle her breast under her bra. She noticed her pants and underwear were missing and tried to push him away. “I’m sorry, I’m just a horny old man,” he said, rolled over onto her and assaulted her before walking off. Stunned in the darkness, she lay for an hour before she found her pants—her cell phone, bracelet, marijuana pipe and $70 in cash were missing—and walked into town. Later in the day, Bolinas locals heard a man named “T.J.” bragging about an “incident” with the woman. But after reports of a fistfight between Mr. Salmon and a friend of the woman, Marin law enforcement agents could locate no trace of him for three years. In September 2011, the state Department of Justice contacted local detectives with DNA evidence that matched the woman’s 2008 rape case. That led to a thumbprint match from investigators in Ohio and an outstanding arrest warrant in Florida. After Mr. Salmon was caught trespassing in Clackamas County, Ore., he was transferred to back to Marin County Jail, where he is being held on three counts of rape. A judge set his bail at $100,000.