Creepy Caller

The Seattle Police Department and King County Prosecutor’s Office
are investigating a Washington State assistant attorney general for
alleged fraud and identity theft related to several adult hookup
sites.

Earlier this month, according to an SPD report, a woman told police
that someone had been impersonating her online, giving out her phone
number and arranging sexual encounters under her name.

According to court documents, the first incident occurred on
Christmas Day 2006, when the victim received a telephone call from a
Tacoma couple who claimed they had arranged a meeting on Adult
FriendFinder to have sex with her. The couple told the woman that a
person claiming to be her had given out her name and phone number to
arrange a tryst.

Records say that between 2006 and mid-2008, the woman received
between 25 and 30 phone calls from people looking for sex. The calls
came from as far away as California, New York, and Florida. The callers
all said someone claiming to be the victim had contacted them on
AdultFriendFinder.com or
Fling.com, using handles like
BiseattleBi06 and Mellywood. Some of the callers said they had received
photos from the impersonator, which were of someone other than the
victim. Most of the accounts have been removed, but one remaining user
ID on Adult FriendFinder lists the account holder as a 24-year-old
Seattle woman who is “lookin’ to play, willing to travel.” The account
also includes a picture of an unidentified young brunette.

In May 2007, five months after the calls began, the alleged victim
contacted the FBI and Seattle Police Department. Authorities subpoenaed
information from Adult FriendFinder and traced the accounts to a
personal Comcast IP address that belongs to the assistant attorney
general.

Police asked the woman if she recognized the assistant attorney
general’s name and she identified him as the husband of a woman she
used to work with at a local news station. The victim had also lived in
the same Seattle neighborhood as the assistant attorney general and his
wife until 2007, when they moved outside the city. Because no charges
have been filed, The Stranger is not naming anyone involved.

According to court records, the victim told police that after her
former coworker and the coworker’s husband moved out of her
neighborhood, she still saw him walking near her home a half-dozen
times, sometimes alone, sometimes with a stroller. Neighbors also told
her they’d seen the man in the neighborhood.

On July 31, police searched the man’s home and took 16 CDs, a flash
drive, a laptop, paperwork, and three cameras.

Kristin Alexander, a spokeswoman for the attorney general’s office,
says the AG’s office has been informed of the investigation but has not
put the employee on leave. Alexander also says it does not appear that
any state computers were used to access AdultFriendFinder.com or Fling.com.

The man being investigated has been with the attorney general’s
office for nine years. He did not respond to requests for comment.

jonah@thestranger.com