Police Arrest SFD Employee Suspected Of Threatening Sawant

Seattle WA

12 February, 2021

6:57 PM

Description

SEATTLE — Seattle police arrested a fire department employee Friday, accused of sending threatening e-mails from a city account to Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant. Sawant requested an investigation in January, citing increasingly threatening e-mails sent from a seattle.gov address between Dec. 17, 2020, and Jan. 18. The councilmember said the Jan. 18 e-mail was the "most ominous." (City of Seattle) Earlier e-mails shared by Sawant contained threats of removal from office "by any means necessary" and referenced the councilmember's involvement with summer protests. Sawant has remained firmly in favor of defunding the Seattle Police Department by at least 50 percent and redirecting money toward community-led public safety programs. (City of Seattle) Sawant said Seattle Fire Department brass told her in December that the employee attached to the e-mail account denied involvement, and an internal investigation was underway. In early February, Sawant sent a letter to Mayor Jenny Durkan questioning whether the threats against her were being taken seriously by the mayor's office or police. "I appreciate that I was contacted by a Seattle Police Department (SPD) detective on Wednesday, January 20. However, I am concerned about what appears to be a lackadaisical approach being taken by the SPD and by the nature of the police interview itself. In the two weeks since that time, the only update on this serious matter was a short email a week ago from the detective assuring me the 'investigation is progressing,' but saying they couldn't provide me with any information because it was an open case under investigation." On Friday, the police department confirmed the arrest of a Seattle Fire Department employee, booked into the King County Jail on suspicion of felony cyberstalking, computer trespass and identity theft. In a blog post, SPD said detectives identified the 42-year-old suspect while investigating another colleague who was ultimately ruled out. Neither the Seattle Police Department nor the Seattle Fire Department formally named the employee arrested Friday. Police said detectives recently investigated other unrelated threats sent to another council member, including one case forwarded to the city attorney's office in December.