Attorney's computers seized in woman's complaint

Seattle police seized computers and other electronic equipment from a state assistant attorney general's home as part of an investigation into a woman's complaint that someone impersonated her on an adult Web site, according to a search warrant recently filed in King County Superior Court.

Between December 2006 and May 2008, the victim received 25 to 30 calls from people looking to have sex with her, according to the warrant. The callers claimed to have met her and arranged sexual encounters through adult Web sites such as Adult Friend Finder and Fling.com, according to court documents.

No charges have been filed. Seattle police still were investigating and the case had not been referred to the King County Prosecutor's Office for a charging decision, spokesman Dan Donohoe said.

The victim first made a complaint to police in April 2007 and was referred to the FBI. Two months later, an FBI agent opened a case and tracked down several of the people who had called her. They, in turn, provided information that police used to single out several online profiles that were created to pose as the woman, court documents say.

According to court documents, the woman was called for the first time on Christmas Day 2006 by a Tacoma couple expecting to meet for sex. Other calls came from New York, Florida and California.

This summer, on July 30, Seattle police joined the investigation and obtained a warrant to search the attorney's home in Kirkland for potential evidence of identity theft and telephone harassment, court documents say.

The warrant was served July 31. Investigators seized several items, including a laptop, 16 CDs, a USB drive, two digital cameras, a Minolta 35 mm camera and some paperwork and notes, court documents say.

A federal grand jury had subpoenaed Adult Friend Finder and Yahoo.com for records from e-mail accounts linked to the fake online profiles. Police learned that someone accessed the profiles several times from a Comcast account registered to the assistant attorney general.

Records also showed one login from an account belonging to another Kirkland man, although police suspect the second man's information may have been provided by mistake, court documents say.

The victim recognized the lawyer as her former neighbor in Madison Park. She also informed police that she previously worked with the attorney's wife, who is a television reporter at KING/5.

Calls to the attorney and his wife were not returned Tuesday. The P-I is not naming anyone because no charges have been filed.

The Attorney General's Office is monitoring the investigation but has not taken action against the attorney's employment, spokesman Dan Sytman said Tuesday.

The attorney represents the state Department of Social and Health Services on child abuse and custody cases, he said.

There was no indication that the alleged conduct took place on state time or on state equipment, he said.

"We've been assured that information from the investigation will be shared with us on a frequent basis," Sytman said.

An FBI agent conducted surveillance of the attorney's property on July 28 and scanned for wireless networks to determine if there were any unsecured signals that could have been hacked by another user. Protected signals require the customer to enter a password to access wireless Internet.

The FBI agent found no unsecured wireless signals immediately around the attorney's home, but did detect one about 40 yards away, court documents say.