Pubdate: Wed, 03 Aug 2005
Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer (WA)
Copyright: 2005 Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Contact:  http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/408
Author: Eric Nalder And Lewis Kamb

CONDUCT UNBECOMING

The Case Is Killed

This is the third of three parts.

"Justice was served," King County Prosecutor Norm Maleng insisted. But few 
others involved in the investigation of former King County Sheriff's Deputy 
Dan Ring would agree.

In short order, Ring went from facing a felony trial and a firing 
recommendation to a prosperous retirement -- disgusting and demoralizing 
the rank-and-file investigators and prosecutors who pursued him, as well as 
many of his fellow King County officers.

By mid-2003, the clandestine investigation had been under way for nearly 
two years, and there was no end in sight. Investigators were still chasing 
down leads on several fronts -- allegations that the veteran 
intelligence-unit detective had bought drugs, stolen money from an old man, 
helped prostitutes evade prosecution and stalked his ex-wife using 
law-enforcement computers.

So when higher-ups made a decision that the drug case would be dropped, it 
was a disappointment to the investigators.

Far bigger disappointments would follow.

The decision on the drug case was the first indication that the cops on the 
street were viewing the Ring case far differently from their superiors in 
the Sheriff's Office and the county prosecutor's office.

Everybody agreed the case would have been stronger if drugs had been 
seized, but a sting operation that would lure Ring into a drug deal was 
rendered impossible when Ring's boss, Sgt. Ray Green, alerted him to his 
wife's internal-affairs complaint of drug use and assault, several 
investigators said. Green said he doesn't recollect doing that.

"I can't recall ever prosecuting a case where we didn't have a controlled 
substance," said King County's Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecutor Mark Larson.

Acknowledging it was a tough call, lower-level prosecutors and 
investigators still argued that if homicides can be prosecuted without a 
body, then drug charges against someone in a sensitive position such as 
Ring could be pursued without drugs in evidence.

"We had a lot of circumstantial evidence," said Seattle police Sgt. Mike 
Hay, who had helped put the drug case together. "That evidence included the 
person that set up the transaction, and the person that completed the 
transaction with (Ring) on several occasions. And we did have cell phone 
evidence, as well. We also had his wife telling us they had consumed the 
drugs, and that the purchases were made."

The abandonment of drug charges was just the beginning. By early 2004, the 
FBI would be excluded from the inquiry, the lead King County investigator 
would be ousted and the case would be hurried and pared down to two 
charges, theft and stalking. A year later, after promoting prostitution and 
official misconduct were added, the entire case would be killed.

Former Sheriff Dave Reichert admitted he was feeling impatient with the 
Ring case as it continued through the fall of 2003. The congressman didn't 
recall exactly when he pushed to end the investigation, but said, "I do 
remember being very frustrated with the time frame."

Reichert's political stock was skyrocketing. Many mentioned the possibility 
of higher political office for him as the world-famous Green River serial 
murder case came to a successful conclusion under his leadership.

By December 2003, Reichert was making behind-the-scenes arrangements with a 
publisher to write a book about the Green River case with a ghostwriter, a 
book that would portray Reichert as a dogged lead investigator while the 
FBI was described as an impediment in the case.

Soon he would be running for Congress. Reichert had previously been touted 
as a potential candidate for governor, but when U.S. Rep. Jennifer Dunn 
decided not to run for re-election from the district where Reichert lived, 
his political path was clear.

Pressure To Wrap It Up

December and January saw major changes in the Ring investigation, 
instituted by Reichert and his top administrators.

Two new investigators were added to the case, fraud-unit Detectives Robin 
Ostrum, a specialist in domestic violence, and Ed Ka. Also added to the mix 
was Capt. Mitzi Johanknecht, then section commander of criminal investigations.

Previously, the investigators had reported up a chain of command to Chief 
Fae Brooks.

Reichert wanted the case wrapped up quickly -- perhaps too quickly.

Some said Johanknecht had to intervene to buy her investigators more time. 
The fraud investigators were new to the case, and needed time to 
reinterview people, and there were still holes.

Johanknecht declined to take credit for that, but said, speaking 
hypothetically: "I would have communicated with the sheriff and my chief at 
the time to say, 'This is where we are in the investigation, and here is 
what we need.' We would have reached a compromise to meet the needs of the 
investigation and the detectives."

In mid-January, just before Ring was arrested, investigators recall a 
meeting where Reichert announced that the FBI no longer would be involved 
in the Ring case. He asked whether federal charges were contemplated and 
when the obvious answer was no, he said the agency wouldn't be needed anymore.

Dropping the FBI led to agent Gary Pilawski being ousted from the case 
after two years of work.

Days later, Johanknecht and others announced at another meeting the plan 
for Ring's arrest, and Pilawski and his King County counterpart, Sgt. Rob 
Mathis, were shocked to discover they weren't included in the plans.

"It was my impression that we were essentially cut out of the 
investigation," said Mark Ferbrache, supervisory special agent in charge of 
the FBI's Seattle public corruption and white-collar crime squad. "We were 
through. It was over."

"I don't remember that at all," Reichert said. "I don't know what you are 
talking about. As far as I knew, when I left the Sheriff's Office, the FBI 
was involved in the investigation. My only frustration with the FBI was 
that they were taking too long."

Records indicate the FBI's active role in the investigation came to an 
abrupt end in January 2004, nearly a year before Reichert left the 
department, though testimony by the lead agent would still be needed.

'What Happened?'

Mathis, of the Sheriff's Office, was also gone. "I gave it everything," 
said Mathis, who spent two years on the investigation, with the last six 
months full time. "I've been a cop almost 20 years and I've never been 
treated the way I was treated.

"Every step of the way I did what I was told and reported everything I did. 
One day I'm removed and I'm not told anything,"

"I had detectives coming up to me and asking 'What happened?' and I can't 
give them an answer," added Mathis, who was ultimately transferred from 
internal affairs to patrol with a cut in pay.

"Rob did a tremendous job," the SPD's Hay said. "He was a pit bull. I felt 
he knew this case inside and out. I felt personally it was a substantial 
blow to the case when he was removed."

"It was my impression that Rob was kicked to the curb like the red-headed 
kid," Ostrum said.

Hay added that the other investigators on the case -- Ostrum and Ka 
included -- did "an outstanding job. I don't want anybody to say they 
screwed this case up, because they didn't."

Ferbrache said there wasn't much the FBI could do when it was pushed out, 
because it had been invited by Reichert in the first place to participate 
in the investigation. Also, the potential crimes uncovered were state, not 
federal, law violations. But he wanted to know why the FBI was cut out. 
Pilawski then asked Johanknecht to explain.

"She just said this is the way we are going to do it," Ferbrache recalled. 
"There was no attempt to explain to my agent the reason for their decision. 
I felt entitled to an explanation because we had spent considerable time 
and resources in the matter, at their request."

When asked by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Johanknecht said she couldn't 
recall the meeting where Reichert cut out the FBI without going back and 
"looking at the particulars."

Asked to do so, she said, "I don't keep records or notes when I'm at a 
meeting. I'm an auditory learner."

Sheriff's spokesman Sgt. John Urquhart confirmed that Reichert kicked the 
FBI -- and Mathis -- off the case. He said the reason was Reichert's 
concern over how long the investigation was taking.

Reichert bristled when a reporter asked him whether his political future 
played any role in his desire to put the Ring investigation on a fast track.

"It makes me absolutely sick to my stomach that people would point at Dave 
Reichert, after 33 years in the King County Sheriff's Office, almost losing 
my life," he said. "To have someone even ask that question of me, it's 
offensive, very offensive."

Arrest At The Airport

The FBI still had a cameo role the day of Ring's arrest. An agent was 
monitoring the undercover camera aimed at Ring's house from a telephone 
pole early that morning when he noticed Ring was going to his car, with his 
girlfriend Rebecca Rose, carrying a suitcase. The agent tried to warn King 
County deputies, but for unknown reasons the person he called wasn't where 
he expected her to be. Deputies following Ring lost him.

The night before, Ring had been instructed by his boss, Green, to report at 
7 a.m. for a meeting at the Sheriff's Office, where sheriff's officers 
planned to arrest Ring. Ring called back later that evening to tell Green 
there was a family emergency in California, and that he would be flying 
south. Airlines were alerted to notify the county if Ring tried to board a 
flight.

He was arrested in the Southwest Airlines baggage claim area early on the 
morning of Jan. 28, 2004. He said very little to investigators after the 
arrest, though he was heard muttering "pernicious" under his breath -- a 
term he had used for his ex-wife, Janine Taylor.

Ring was charged on Jan. 30, in King County Superior Court, with 
first-degree theft for allegedly swindling an elderly Seattle man named 
Orie John "O.J." Morrison, and attempted stalking for searching for his 
ex-wife Taylor. He was released on $100,000 bail, and continued to receive 
his $80,000-a-year pay pending trial.

Early on after charges were filed, the prosecutor's office played its case 
against Ring like it was a sure winner, prevailing on every key motion 
argued before the judge.

Six months after charges were filed, the prosecutor's office sent Ring's 
attorney, Richard Hansen, a letter threatening to add new charges against 
Ring of conspiracy to promote prostitution and official misconduct if Ring 
didn't plead guilty to theft and attempted stalking, for each of which he 
would receive 90 days in jail, to be served consecutively.

Ring didn't bite.

"Attempted stalking is like walking into a grocery store and being arrested 
for thinking about shoplifting," he said.

When the criminal charges were filed, the King County Sheriff's Office also 
launched a new internal investigation into Ring's behavior. The new inquiry 
looked at a slew of his alleged transgressions against the badge, including 
dishonesty, criminal conduct, conduct unbecoming, failure to obey laws and 
orders, inappropriate use of authority, ethics violations, misuse of his 
department vehicle and misuse of Internet and e-mail.

On Oct. 28, 2004, internal investigations Capt. Cameron K. Webster 
recommended that Ring be placed on unpaid leave, which was initially 
approved and then rescinded a short time later because of objections from 
the King County Police Officers Guild.

'Clear And Convincing'

Webster wrote in his report that there was "clear and convincing evidence" 
of 15 misconduct allegations against Ring.

The case was still pending when Reichert was elected to Congress in 
November 2004, handpicking Sue Rahr as his interim replacement. She was 
then the field operations chief.

Reichert didn't do anything to discipline Ring before he left office, but 
he claimed he would have canned him had he not run out of time.

"When I left, my intent was to fire him," Reichert said. "I hate to be in 
disagreement with the sheriff (Rahr). She may have more information than I 
did when I left. When I left it was my feeling they should go forward with 
the charges that they had. I believe he should have been charged."

A few weeks after Rahr was appointed sheriff on Jan. 18, 2005, King County 
prosecutors filed amended criminal charges against Ring. They added 
conspiracy to promote prostitution in the second degree for the frequent 
assistance he gave to two Seattle-area escort services, and official 
misconduct for using restricted databases to hunt for Taylor and gather 
information on others. Detectives Ostrum and Ka, as well as others, had 
continued to work on the escort-service angle during 2004.

Key to understanding what happened next is recognizing that the Ring 
investigation was being pursued on two fronts: The criminal investigation 
and the internal Sheriff's Office inquiry.

Law enforcement departments usually let the criminal investigation run its 
course before taking an internal investigation to a hearing, but in this 
case it was done in reverse.

Seattle Police Officers Guild Vice President Rich O'Neill said such 
hearings on internal investigations cases in his department almost always 
are held only after any parallel criminal case against an officer has gone 
to trial.

Told generally about how, in the Ring case, that sequence occurred in 
reverse, O'Neill, a 25-year police officer, said: "Wow. That's different. 
I've never heard of that before."

Call For Firing Fails

The internal investigation was brought to a hearing before Rahr on March 
28, a month before Ring's trial was to begin. That became a turning point 
for Ring.

Webster's investigation had been reviewed by Criminal Investigations 
Division Chief Pat Lee, and just three weeks before the hearing, Lee had 
recommended forcefully that Rahr fire Ring. He sustained all but one of 
Webster's allegations.

Lee, a 30-year veteran, wrote that Ring's "pattern of behavior ... was not 
commensurate with the core values of the sheriff's department."

But at the hearing, Rahr contravened Lee's recommendation. She sustained 10 
of the 15 allegations against Ring. They included conduct unbecoming for 
his actions the night he showed up at escort-service operator Lisa Gorrin's 
doorstep drunk, distraught and demanding a bath; inappropriate use of 
authority for his efforts to track down Taylor and for allowing his 
girlfriend Rose access to a confidential undercover sheriff's mailbox; 
ethics violations for his relationship with Gorrin; misuse of a department 
vehicle in trips to Canada and misuse of department Internet and e-mail for 
ordering an adult video using his official computer and storing personal 
photos.

But allegations key to the criminal case were not sustained.

Rahr and King County Police Officer's Guild President Steve Eggert got 
together after the hearing to work out a settlement agreement with Ring, 
independent of the prosecutor's office. Rahr and Eggert had worked closely 
together in the past, and the sheriff said they had good rapport.

The deal would allow Ring to retire Nov. 26, after he turns 50, a delay 
that made him eligible for more retirement pay. Ring said it will give him 
$3,500 a month for life, starting as soon as he retires.

"Thirty-five hundred dollars a month the rest of my life. I can scrape by 
on that," he said.

Ring would be placed on unpaid leave, but granted vacation and sick pay 
equivalent to his salary until Nov. 26, and he'd also receive anything left 
over. Ring has been receiving a full salary or its equivalent since his 
arrest, without working, and will continue receiving it until Thanksgiving.

King County also would pay his legal fees, which Ring's $325-an-hour 
attorney Richard Hansen estimated at $160,000 to $200,000. Ring had that 
benefit nailed down in a hearing before King County Superior Court Judge 
Dean Lum on Feb. 16, 2005. By King County code, any government employee 
charged with a crime on the job must have attorney's fees covered by the 
government agency they work for.

The deal also would require the county to pay Ring an additional $10,000, 
which roughly equaled what he had paid for bond. Ring said he had insisted 
during negotiations that he get some extra money.

"Nothing says I'm sorry like money, I told them," Ring said.

In return, the county would get rid of Ring, and a $2.5 million claim he'd 
filed against the Sheriff's Office.

He also would agree never to work as a cop in Washington again.

Rahr and others said they were concerned about recent cases where deputies 
had won back their jobs through arbitration after being accused of 
misconduct. Their alleged offenses were less serious than Ring's.

"I decided to enter into the settlement agreement because it was the only 
way to guarantee he would not be a police officer again," Rahr said.

Ring had a different impression of Rahr's findings. "In the very end, Sue 
Rahr looked at the case and said this is bullshit," Ring said. "That's what 
she said to the Guild president (Eggert)."

Ring said he was told that Rahr said to Eggert: "I don't know how to make 
Dan Ring whole again."

Rahr recalled Eggert saying that to her, not the other way around. Eggert 
did not return calls.

Rahr also said she is examining the intelligence unit, and changes are 
possible, although "I think Dan is an anomaly in that department."

A Weakened Case?

Down the street, deputy prosecutors were vigorously preparing their case, 
and Janine Taylor had been flown to Seattle once for a deposition. She was 
on call and ready to testify, as were others. One flaw in the case was the 
fact that the alleged fraud victim, O.J. Morrison, had died, but voluminous 
records and recorded testimony had been collected to argue that aspect of 
the prosecution.

After the settlement agreement was fully prepared, but still unsigned, Rahr 
said she told deputy prosecutor Larson about it. She also expressed her 
opinion regarding the weakness of the criminal case and the risk that Ring 
might beat it.

"I told Mark I wasn't willing to take the risk of having this guy back," 
she said. "I told him I had entered into a settlement agreement. We 
certainly had a verbal agreement."

Larson said such a discussion with the sheriff over a case like this was 
unusual, but it happened.

"She gave me a heads up to take a look at it. She was concerned with what 
she was seeing," he said.

Suddenly, the prosecutor's office wanted to talk settlement.

Larson said that with Rahr's doubts in mind -- plus his own -- he was 
anxious to re-examine the criminal case.

He felt a good way to do that would be to see what kind of a defense Hansen 
was going to present in court. Hansen is a noted defense attorney who had 
recently beaten the Sheriff's Office on less-serious allegations against 
other officers.

Hansen said Larson "called me up and said we ought to talk settlement a 
week or 10 days before we were set to go to trial."

Larson said it's also uncommon for him to meet with defense attorneys this 
way over cases. He said he does so in maybe 1 percent of the 10,000 cases 
handled by the prosecutor's office annually.

The pending settlement with Ring was on his mind.

"I think there was this notion, 'What if he were just to resign?' " Larson 
said. "What if he just left? Where does that leave us in terms of our 
desire to continue a prosecution?

"I think that was a good outcome, on the merits."

Hansen sent the prosecutor's office a letter on April 14 detailing how he 
might debunk their case.

The letter said: "We also believe, based on discussions with Guild 
representative Steve Eggert, that Sheriff Rahr does not want this 
prosecution to proceed, but would prefer that Dan Ring's situation be 
resolved through the internal investigation process."

"It appears that none of the ... criminal allegations will be sustained 
even though the burden of proof is much lower in that context than in a 
criminal case," the letter said.

It went further to flatly mischaracterize the FBI investigation in the 
case, saying: "The FBI conducted a thorough investigation of Ring before 
closing their file on the case after finding no criminal conduct."

"On the contrary," supervisory special agent Ferbrache said. "We developed 
what we all thought -- we, being the FBI -- was a strong criminal case 
based on the violations that he was ultimately charged with."

Hanson said if he was wrong, it was unintentional.

Larson had a 1 1/2-hour meeting with Hansen, which included the deputy 
prosecutors and King County Prosecutor Maleng's chief of staff Dan 
Satterberg. He later consulted with Maleng, and after further deliberations 
and examining Hansen's evidence, he decided to drop all charges against 
Ring with prejudice, which means they cannot be refiled. He said Hansen's 
letter was "useful," but it didn't sway him.

"I think (Maleng) very much appreciated the greater good and that it was a 
good outcome," Larson said.

"I think they (the defense) had a story to tell and multiple options to 
take before a jury," Larson said. "I think those things were illuminating."

"You can win every motion," Larson said. "And still lose a trial."

"I'm very disappointed and surprised that the King County prosecutor did 
not take a swing at this guy," Ferbrache said. "Either negotiate a guilty 
plea for a felony criminal conviction or take him to trial.

"I had every reason to think (deputy prosecutor) Barbara Mack felt good 
about this case. I wasn't given any kind of satisfactory explanation as to 
why they dismissed all counts."

In response, Larson said Ferbrache was taking a shot "from the cheap seats."

Larson said Mack and the other deputy prosecutor in Ring's case didn't 
agree with his decision.

"I don't know if they would have made the same decision," he said. "I had a 
sense they were ready to try the case and they may have been disappointed."

Mack said, "I thought that the case was a tryable case, absolutely. I don't 
prepare cases for trial and expect to lose them."

Regarding the issue of making sure Ring was no longer with the Sheriff's 
Office, the 19-year veteran deputy prosecutor said, "I assume had we won 
the trial, he would no longer be a police officer."

Maleng said that as trial approached, he, Larson and Satterberg analyzed 
the case and felt it was "weak." He also said he arranged the meeting 
between Larson and Rahr to discuss the case.

Rahr said she "would assume" that she influenced Larson's decision, but 
said it was his call in the end. "He's an experienced prosecutor," she said.

"Justice was served," Maleng said. "We did the best we could on this case."

Asked to comment on the settlement with Ring, Maleng said, "It doesn't mean 
that I think he should be receiving benefits, a pension, et cetera. I 
wanted to have the badge removed."

On the day the trial was supposed to begin, April 25, a representative of 
the prosecutor's office signed Ring's settlement. Rahr, Eggert, Ring and 
another attorney representing Ring had signed the agreement three days earlier.

The news hit like a bomb in the Sheriff's Office, and in the remote 
location where Taylor was preparing to testify in the trial.

Rahr met with the entire Sheriff's Office fraud division. She said the 
investigators -- all of whom had some role in the case -- were universally 
angry at the decision.

"They felt strongly that Dan should have been criminally charged and should 
have been fired," the sheriff said. "They put a lot of time and hard work 
into that investigation."

Publicly, the prosecutor's office announced that the case was dropped in 
part because Morrison, the alleged theft victim, had died. He had died more 
than seven months earlier, on Sept. 14, 2004.

Larson also said one of the goals of the prosecutor's office was that Ring 
no longer be involved in law enforcement.

"That's insane on its face," Ring said. "Why would you file a criminal 
charge against someone to get them to retire? I would have retired on my own."

Larson said Ring's comment is nothing more than "Monday morning 
quarterbacking."

"I'm very dismayed. I know we had a case. I know we had probable cause. I 
know there were other charges that could have been looked at that weren't," 
fraud investigator Ostrum said. "Nothing that we filed charges on doesn't 
have a mountain of documentation to back it up.

"It is just kind of disheartening for me to know there was a case that 
could have been made and a case that could have gone to trial and could 
have been given a chance to go through the criminal justice system the 
right way -- and it didn't."

Janine Taylor said she was in bed watching a movie when Barbara Mack called 
with the news that all charges were dropped.

"I just got sick to my stomach," she said. "What was I thinking? He's Dan 
Ring. He gets away with everything. What the f--k was I thinking? Crime 
does pay. Nasty people. Friends in power."

"They are cowards," Taylor said of the high-level officials at the 
Sheriff's Office and prosecutor's office who made the decision. "It got 
messier and bigger and more scandalous than they counted on.

"And they chickened out."

- -------------------

P-I reporters Paul Shukovsky and Mike Barber and P-I researchers Lytton 
Smith, Marsha Milroy and Dawn Marsh contributed to this report. 
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