John Lovick: Allegations of sexual abuse ‘are absolutely untrue’

Decades-old legal documents have emerged involving State Representative John Lovick which include allegations of sexual abuse of a minor. While Lovick was a suspect in sexual abuse investigations in the 1990s, none of the cases concluded and he was never charged with a crime.

State Representative John Lovick told KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson that he vehemently rejects the claims.

“They are absolutely untrue. And I stand behind the statements of my children, my son Jeff and my daughter Sabrina,” Lovick said. “They did not happen and I will stand 100 percent behind their statement and I will tell you that those allegations are totally false, they are lies.”

He said that if he were asked, he would absolutely consent to take a polygraph test.

“If this happened, I would absolutely want to be prosecuted to the letter,” he said. “That’s how strongly I feel about it.”

The documents have been posted on a website — The Lovick Files — which is paid for by Republican Jeff Sax,who is running against Lovick for a position in the House.

“No one will understand the shock and sadness I felt when I read the police reports containing allegations of sexual abuse of a child by John Lovick,” Sax said on a Facebook post.

“It is not something you expect to find in the process of doing ‘opposition research,'” he wrote. “I expected our campaign team to find votes where I disagreed with Lovick. But never this. I was sick to my stomach. I still am to be honest. No one has seen these files in 20 years because they have been hidden from the public, and now I have the burden of that knowledge. Please understand the decision to release these files to the public has not been taken lightly.“

The candidate says he released the files for two reasons: The public has the right to know such information about a “powerful and well-connected politician who holds the gavel in the State House”; and parents have the right to know so they can make decisions about their children.

“There is no doubt that Mr. Lovick will attack me viciously for making these files public, after he has kept four investigations into his alleged behavior with children a secret for so long,” Sax wrote. “I am prepared for his attacks.”

Sax said he will not comment further about the documents beyond his Facebook statement.

“This is truly an example of politics at its worst,” Lovick said of the website.

Lovick Responds

According to Lovick, he had never seen the documents known as the “Lovick Files” until just a few weeks ago. He had never heard the statements made by his daughter to a therapist.

“It made me sick and I’m sick right now thinking about it,” he told Dori.

Throughout this investigation, Lovick said he is concentrating on the well-being of his family.

“I’m mainly focused on my children,” Lovick said. “This is causing a tremendous amount of pain for both of them … all this is doing is putting their names out there, invading their privacy.”

Lovick’s daughter has written a statement and posted on Facebook: “I want everyone to know that the allegations against my father, John Lovick, are 100% false. I also want to publicly request Jeff Sax and The Republican Party to take down the website and respect my privacy. As a working mom, I did not ask for this attention and would appreciate people allowing me to go back to my job serving my community.”

His son also released a statement. In part: “These documents detail allegations, just that, never proven and without merit. I know it never happened. I never believed any of it, and neither should anyone else. People should have the guts enough to be honest with themselves and consider the source of this information, and why it has come to light now.”

Lovick is a state politician with a history in law enforcement. He currently represents Washington’s 44th Legislative District. According to his biography on the House Democrat’s website, he spent 31 years as a state trooper and was named trooper of the year in 1992. He was elected as a Mill Creek council member in 1993 and was elected as Snohomish County Sheriff in 2007. He was Snohomish County executive from 2013-2015 and was appointed to the House in 2016. His current campaign for the House is his first for the position.

Lovick responded to the story in the Everett Herald saying “it did not happen.” He said he was never interviewed by investigators. He also provided statements to the newspaper from his two children which recant allegations they made as teenagers, decades ago.

The Herald notes that it was provided the documents before the Lovick Files website went up, but did not report on them. Reporters wanted to verify the documents; and also, Lovicks’s children, who are not mentioned in the files, spoke with the newspaper about the allegations. “The Herald decided to not publish a story at the time because a person listed as the victim denied any illicit acts occurred,” The Herald reports.

“You don’t have to prepare to tell the truth,” Lovick told the Everett Herald. “You tell the truth and stand by the statements of my children.”

The Herald also reports that Rep. Joe Fitzgibbon, D-Seattle, who is chairman of the House Democratic Campaign Committee, was aware of the allegations. Fitzgibbon has responded by saying he takes the word of Lovick’s children over Jeff Sax and his campaign team.

The Lovick Files

The documents are light on details as to the exact nature of the sexual abuse; it was enough to spur multiple investigations in the ’90s. One witness is documented telling Snohomish County investigators that she saw Lovick in the middle of the night, nude, in a minor’s bedroom, masturbating. They also state Lovick would watch a minor bathe.

The minor reportedly mentioned allegations of sexual abuse to a health care official in California in 1994. That official reported the allegations to authorities in Washington where the incidents allegedly happened in the 1980s and 1990s. Child Protective Services in California investigated the allegations that Lovick sexually abused a child in Washington. No case was pursued as the minor did not want to testify.

The Mill Creek Police Department and Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office also investigated the allegations that same year. No charges were brought because the allegations were past the statute of limitations. Records of these investigations were destroyed in the 1990s.

Lovick applied to be a foster parent in 1995. A Department of Social and Health Services launched an investigation into him as a result and the allegations were brought up again. That DSHS investigation was inconclusive. He withdrew his application.

In 1996, Mill Creek’s police chief wrote to the Snohomish County Sheriff’s office asking for them to take over an investigation of Lovick, a council member at that time. The investigation involved allegations of sexual contact with a minor. That investigation did not go anywhere after the victim said they did not want to take the allegations any further.

Allegations also included in legal documents state the Lovick would allegedly call a minor a “two-faced (expletive),” and use manipulative, abusive language with them. Allegations from the documents also state that Lovick reportedly once threatened his ex-wife saying “If you make me lose my job, I’ll kill you (expletive).”

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