|
|
|
| ||
 |
|
|
|
Friday, December 30, 2005 Deputy who turned in her officer-husband felt ostracized Former King County Deputy Kathy Svinth has fond memories of her days as a cop assigned to patrol the Burien precinct and its Vashon Island substation. "You got to know your people, your community, your schools," recalled the 16-year deputy, who left the Sheriff's Office in 1999.
But Svinth also remembers a clique of vindictive managers in the department that singled out some deputies and made their lives miserable. Svinth described a Sheriff's Office where favoritism ran rampant, discipline was selective and department brass seemed to reward those who kept their mouths shut while castigating whistle-blowers. At the center of this circle, Svinth said, was Sue Rahr, then a senior officer and now sheriff. Svinth said she initially crossed Rahr and another high-ranking officer, Rebecca Norton, when she came forward with separate sexual-harassment complaints against two male deputies in the late 1980s and early '90s. "I thought it was the right thing to do," Svinth said. "I thought management would take action." Instead, Svinth said, Rahr -- then an internal-affairs lieutenant -- did her best to knock down Svinth's claims by knocking down Svinth. "They had to destroy me," Svinth said. "They had to say I was unfit." Rahr not only ruled Svinth's claim against one sergeant was not sustained, she ordered Svinth to take a psychological exam -- the beginning of what Svinth described as a vindictive streak of harassment meant to drum her out of the department. Svinth said Rahr made sure that she was disciplined for even the slightest infraction. One time, Svinth said she received a reprimand for not getting an oil change for her patrol car on time. When Svinth went to the police union, they told her: "You're just one of the chosen few that they're picking on," she recalled. To question Rahr, Svinth realized, was out of the question. "You never had that conversation with Sue Rahr," Svinth said. "She made up her mind what happened. ... Her questions were only related to what she wanted to prove (and) had nothing to do with the truth." Rahr declined to comment for this story. Sheriff's spokesman Sgt. John Urquhart said: "How long ago was Kathy Svinth here? We're not going to talk about Kathy Svinth." Svinth's relationship with management had eroded so badly that she was afraid to turn to the department when she needed help most -- when her teenage daughter, Trina, told her that Svinth's husband, also a King County sheriff's deputy, was sexually abusing her.
In October 1996, 16-year-old Trina Svinth alleged that her stepfather, William A. Erdt -- a well-liked, 24-year deputy with a solid reputation -- had devised a scheme to sexually assault her. It was at a time when her mother was distracted by a work-related disability and her constant battle with department brass. A few months earlier, Kathy Svinth had suffered a head injury in a car accident while driving a suspect to jail. Though Svinth was forced to wear a neck brace and could barely hold her gun steady, the department fought her claim for disability leave on an injury that ultimately would result in her retirement. With Svinth often out of town or out of pocket, Erdt seized the opportunity to prey upon Trina. Erdt told Trina a fellow officer had witnessed her speeding and had filed a ticket against her. The good news, Erdt told her, was that a judge agreed to let him handle the situation at the family's Vashon Island home so Trina could avoid jail. As part of the ruse, Erdt forged Sheriff's Office documents using his work computer, even creating an "official" sentencing schedule for Trina -- a list of punishments she had to complete in a given period. "I'd just gotten my license," said Trina, now 25. "I thought, 'I don't want a ticket. I don't want my mom to know, she'd be furious.' " Besides, Trina thought: "Why would Bill want to hurt me? He's a police officer." Part of Trina's sentence, Erdt told her, was she had to spend the night in a home "jail." He created a crude cell in the family's barn and booked her into it using a checklist he said real jail officials used. Erdt stripped Trina naked, inspected her for contraband, sprayed her with disinfectant, even cleaned her bellybutton, court documents say. He then put her in restraints and forced her to spend the night naked in the barn. Erdt videotaped the entire event. About two weeks later, Erdt went to Trina again with demands for punishment. He shaved her body and forced her to sleep naked near him in a travel trailer. All the while, Erdt was repeatedly injecting Trina with a syringe containing an unknown substance, which he said was treatment for a disease Erdt claimed Trina had contracted from her boyfriend. He'd used a long swab to take a "specimen" from Trina's throat, which Erdt told her he'd taken to a doctor for tests. Later, when Erdt tried to get Trina to submit to more punishment, she told him that was enough. "I said, 'No, I'm not doing anything else,' " she recalled. " 'This is ridiculous. I'd rather go do time in a real jail.' " Trina's boyfriend urged her to talk to a guidance counselor. She soon told her mother of the abuse. Kathy Svinth immediately kicked Erdt out of the house. After more details emerged, Svinth knew she had to seek help. But she was afraid to turn to the Sheriff's Office. "Because of my reputation -- or the reputation that Rahr and the others had created for me -- no one was going to believe me," she said. "I knew it was fruitless." Svinth eventually called the state's Child Protective Services, which intervened with the Sheriff's Office on Svinth's behalf. When her department launched an investigation, Svinth said, it seemed to do so reluctantly. "I was treated like dirt under the rug," she said. The detective who showed up to take their statements acted like, "You're wasting my time," Svinth added. "He showed no sensitivity at all." Trina told prosecutors about other bizarre acts by Erdt. Years before, he'd made Trina hook wires to his inner thighs from a device he'd fashioned, ordering her to shock him each time he smoked a cigarette. Erdt also devised a disciplinary practice called, "Dying Cockroach," in which he had Trina strip to her underwear, lie on her back and hold her arms and legs in the air until her muscles convulsed. Despite all that, Svinth said, her department didn't act immediately. "For domestic violence, there are certain procedures they have to follow that they did not follow," she said. "They didn't arrest him. They didn't even seek a temporary protection order." In fact, court records indicate it took authorities more than a week after Trina reported her abuse to issue a no-contact order against Erdt. Hours after Trina talked with prosecutors, Erdt showed up at the family home on Vashon. "It was terrifying," Trina said. "It was dark outside, and I remember looking out the window and there he was, kind of staring blankly. Like a hollow person." Svinth locked the doors and called 911. Erdt left sometime before the deputies showed up, hours later, Svinth says. "Who knows what could've happened? What did David Brame do? His only choice to get out of this would be to silence us," she said. The next day, deputies executed a search warrant on the home and found Erdt's videotapes. Erdt eventually was charged with felony counts of unlawful imprisonment, sexual exploitation of a minor, incest, assault and communication with a minor for immoral purposes. After the allegations against her husband, Svinth was further ostracized at work, she says. The King County Police Officers Guild stopped helping her with her work disputes, Svinth said, telling her they'd agreed to represent her husband instead. Guild employee Kim Eggert -- wife of union President Steve Eggert -- even told Svinth one time, "Don't call here anymore," Svinth said. "I don't think that's true," Kim Eggert said this week. "I would've never, ever told a member not to call back. I don't treat members that way." Svinth heard that a high-ranking Sheriff's Office official arranged for a meeting at a department precinct for officers and their spouses to inform them about the allegations against Erdt. A few attendees later told her the gist of the meeting was Svinth had crossed the line. "The implication was that I was making it all up," Svinth said, "that all this should've been handled internally." Erdt ultimately pleaded guilty, was fired, served about seven years in prison and now is a Level 2 registered sex offender living under state supervision in West Seattle. Efforts to reach Erdt for this story were unsuccessful. For the rest of his life, he'll collect state disability benefits of up to half of his final average salary approved by the King County Disability Retirement Board. Erdt filed a claim for a duty-related disability retirement shortly before being fired in 1997. Initially turned down, Erdt later won an appeal for his disability claim, which is partially based on his diagnosis as a sexual deviant. According to financial records Erdt filed when Svinth divorced him, the value of his disability pension and other retirement payments totaled more than $500,000 at the time the divorce was settled in 1999. From those tax-free benefits, Erdt agreed to pay a settlement to Trina of $100,000 -- a sum she receives through monthly $625 payments over 30 years. Now married and with a successful career, Trina has gone through years of counseling to learn to cope with what happened. But her heart still jumps sometimes when she sees a police car or hears a siren. "I've been pulled over a couple times, and it's terrifying," she said. "I don't want to think all cops are bad, but it brings back memories." Trina recently tried to contact Rahr, asking her thoughts about Erdt's case and what can be done to better deal with bad cops. After sending three e-mails to the sheriff, Trina said, she finally got a terse response back, telling her to get counseling. "It was cold," Trina said. "It made me feel like I wasn't a person, like I didn't matter. I really was just looking for an 'I'm sorry that you had to go through this.' " Her mother added that during all those years in the department that Rahr singled her out, "She never once asked me, 'Kathy, what's going on in your personal life?' " "Now Sue Rahr claims in all her campaigning that she's some sort of progressive domestic-violence victims advocate? Please. To me, what she did wasn't a lot different than what Bill did: cause pain and humiliate." DOCUMENTS CITED IN THIS ARTICLE
P-I reporter Lewis Kamb can be reached at 206-448-8336 or lewiskamb@seattlepi.com.
 INSIDE SEATTLEPI.COM
LIVE CHAT
Investigative reporters Eric Nalder and Lewis Kamb answered readers' questions about this series on Friday, Dec. 30. Read the full transcript.
ABOUT THIS REPORT
This story is part of an ongoing investigation of the King County Sheriff's department. See more.
THE STORIES
Part One: Sheriff's oversight system dated, critics say Ombudsman: Complaints are taken seriously Part Two: Trial of deputies was fueled by politics, says lawyer Part Three: Deputy who turned in her officer-husband felt ostracized WTO case shows firings aren't easy, officials say CONTACTS
Here is contact information for public officials who can address issues raised in this series: Sue Rahr Ron Sims Larry Phillips Norm Maleng VIDEO
 OUR AFFILIATES
Home Delivery: (206) 464-2121 or (800) 542-0820 Send comments to newmedia@seattlepi.com
| |||||||||||||||||||||
My web site
My Yahoo!
Google
