Harger: As nation follows Epstein revelations, local media ignores Auburn pastor’s child rape case
Nov 19, 2025, 7:49 AM | Updated: 1:41 pm
Some stories remind you that accountability takes a very long time.
Yesterday, the House and Senate voted to release the so-called Epstein Files. For years, people have demanded to know who enabled Jeffrey Epstein, who looked away, and who decided that protecting a powerful man mattered more than protecting the children he harmed. Even now, it is unclear how much we will really learn. It has taken almost two decades just to reach this point.
I used to think that kind of silence was impossible in a local community. How could people close ranks around someone who hurt a child? How could civic leaders decide that keeping a reputation intact mattered more than the 15-year-old girl whose life was shattered?
Then I spent half the fall reporting on the Joshua Headley case in Auburn. And now I understand exactly how it happens.
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Four weeks ago, we reported that Auburn Mayor Nancy Backus wrote a letter for Headley’s attorney to share with the judge before sentencing, asking that he not serve prison time even though he had admitted to felony charges for raping a child.
The records also showed that civic leaders continued to platform him, first under his real name and later under an alias he didn’t register on the sex offender database.
They showed that he was hired to produce media for political campaigns after his release from prison. They showed that he worked around teenagers for a school levy campaign. They showed that faith leaders in Auburn tried to warn people and were, at best, ignored.
Residents raised their voices online. Some spoke during public comment at council meetings. People could see something was wrong.
It was not a rumor. It was not anonymous tips. It was not conjecture. It was all public records. Emails. Court documents. Business filings. Sex offender registry rules. Public Disclosure Commission reports. It’s all there in my report. Any news organization has it all laid out for them.
And yet, aside from one article from The Center Square, no other newsroom in this region has touched it.
That has been the most surprising part. Local television news, which often sends crews to Auburn for far less consequential stories, has not reported any of this.
The Auburn Reporter newspaper, which should be the first to scrutinize local power, has said nothing. The Auburn Examiner, which calls itself a community watchdog, has stayed silent.
These are outlets that should be the first to cover the hard stories in their own city. Instead, nothing. You just have one radio news host trying to follow the trail while everyone else looks away.
At the same time I was investigating, the mayor was loudly taking credit for helping remove Kevin Coe from Auburn. Coe is one of the most notorious sex offenders in the state’s history.
The public concern was understandable. It made headlines on all the news stations. Positive coverage for Backus taking a stand against sex offenders. But what no one else in the local press knew is that while the mayor was speaking out last month, she was already aware that I had requested records and was asking her direct questions about her support for Joshua Headley, the sex offender.
No one else seems to have connected those pieces.
Was her dramatic reaction to Coe influenced by the knowledge that this other story was coming? I cannot say. But it is a fair question to ask.
Which brings me back to the Epstein Files. People often talk about enabling as if it only happens in the shadows of the rich and famous. But enabling usually happens closer to home. It grows when a community decides not to look too hard. It thrives when the people who should ask the uncomfortable questions simply choose not to.
When a 15-year-old survivor says she feels like abusers have more rights than victims, it should stop us. It should make us look again at whom we trust, whom we elevate, and whom we quietly excuse.
National accountability matters, but local accountability matters just as much.
Charlie Harger is the host of “Seattle’s Morning News” on KIRO Newsradio. You can read more of his stories and commentaries here. Follow Charlie on X and email him here.
