Bevy of allegations against King County Sheriff Urquhart

The allegation of rape isn’t the end of the recent controversy around King County Sheriff John Urquhart. Nor is the allegation of an affair he had with a deputy under his command. That is just the start.

The Seattle Times broke the news Thursday is that after the allegations were made about the King County Sheriff, Urquhart may have attempted to keep it all quiet.

“He adamantly denies the rape allegation,” Seattle Times Reporter Lewis Kamb told KIRO Radio’s Jason Rantz. “He also denies a separate complaint … that a deputy brought forward alleging that the sheriff had an affair with the same woman when he was her supervisor years ago. In that instance, according to the internal investigators, they were also told they should not document that complaint.”

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“According to the investigators, they believe it should have been documented,” he said.

The story Kamb related in the Times details when the King County Sheriff’s Office received information from the FBI. The information included an allegation of rape. The office’s internal investigations unit told Urquhart about the allegation. And also, about another that he had an affair with a deputy. Urquhart allegedly told the investigators not to document the allegations in Blue Team, a computer program that documents and tracks complaints.

Urquhart, however, argues that he never told anyone not to document the complaints.

“What (Urquhart) said is that he suggested that it didn’t need to be documented because the FBI already looked at it and found it not to be credible,” Kamb said. “What he said is that, ‘Look, I know this didn’t happen. It’s a false allegation … and the FBI already looked at it, so I don’t think we need to document it.'”

“On the other side of the fence,” as Kamb puts it, is another perspective. Despite the FBI looking into the matter for federal-level crimes, the King County Sheriff’s Office is still responsible for state-level offenses. And further, if there were any department policies that were violated.

“He was her supervisor at the time, so there may be department policy there. As well as the state criminal part of it,” Kamb said. “At the very minimum you need to document it, and from there you determine what level of review it should get.”

King County Sheriff allegations

The allegations have come out amid a lawsuit with the King County Sheriff’s Office regarding discrimination against female deputies. Before the allegations were made public Urquhart went to The Seattle Times with a binder of information on the woman who made the rape allegation. It held communication between them since the alleged incident 14 years ago, and appeared to show a cordial relationship between them. She even helped on his campaign at one point.

“She came forward this year, six months ago, to the FBI alleging that back in 2002 — during a night of partying out in Pioneer Square — then Sgt. Urquhart accompanied her back to her apartment and she claims he raped her there,” Kamb said.

The incident was never reported until June this year — to the FBI. Since the alleged rape, another deputy has also alleged Urquhart and the woman — who made the rape claim — had an affair. Urquhart denies them both.

“It’s difficult to understand what is true when you have a he said, she said situation,” Kamb noted.

 

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