No charges against Snohomish County Executive Aaron Reardon

The Island County Prosecutor announced Wednesday that he will not file charges against Snohomish County Executive Aaron Reardon, who was accused of carrying out an affair with public money.

Prosecutor Gregory M. Banks said there was “insufficient evidence.”

On Thursday, Banks told 97.3 KIRO-FM’s Dori Monson that “it sure appeared” Reardon had an affair, but said there was no proof Reardon had criminal intent when he spent taxpayer money on his mistress.

The Washington State Patrol launched a lengthy investigation into Reardon at the request of the Snohomish County Prosecutor after Tamara Dutton, a county employee, went public with allegations that she and the executive had a six-year affair.

Dutton claimed Reardon took her on business trips, during which he conducted little to no official business. She speculated that Reardon paid for travel expenses with his county credit card.

“Even the complaining witness had doubts about who was paying for Mr. Reardon’s travel, whether Mr. Reardon paid for meals and lodging using a county or personal credit card,” Banks said. “She did not know whether Mr. Reardon reimbursed the county for personal expenses that were put on a county credit card.”

Banks said that if done in a timely matter, Snohomish County employees are allowed to reimburse the county for personal expenses wrongly charged to the county.

Among those expenses was a hotel “intimacy kit,” that Reardon purchased on his county credit card. The kit reportedly included condoms and personal lubricant.

Banks said Reardon later transferred the charge to his personal account, and there is no proof he bought it with the intention to steal money from the public.

“It would be nearly impossible – unless Mr. Reardon confessed to trying to steal the $50 or so that it was for the kit – to prove that that was his intent,” Banks said.