Former Whatcom County Prosecutor’s Office clerk focus of cybercrime investigation
A former legal assistant with the Whatcom County Prosecutor’s Office was arrested Thursday on suspicion of accessing a law-enforcement database to help a sibling, who was the target of a drug investigation.
The 33-year-old suspect, who isn’t being named because there’s been no formal arraignment, was arrested by the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office early Thursday and booked on suspicion of first-degree computer trespass and official misconduct.
The suspect was released shortly after booking, according to online jail records. No information was immediately available regarding court appearances.
The Skagit County Prosecutor’s Office will be handling the case to avoid an appearance of a conflict, Whatcom County court officials said.
Thursday’s arrest stems from a narcotics investigation as detectives served a search warrant in September, Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Deb Stater told The Herald.
“That search warrant recovered a cellphone belonging to a person of interest in the investigation,” Slater said in an email. “Cellphone records showed (the person of interest) asked (a sibling), who at that time worked for the Whatcom County Prosecutor’s Office, to ‘look for’ certain people. An audit of the confidential and restricted Law Enforcement Database confirmed that (the suspect) conducted queries on the people requested, even though (the clerk) was not authorized to access records related to these individuals and had no assigned case or official purpose requiring such access.”
In Washington, first-degree computer trespass is a cybercrime and a class C felony, punishable by up to five years in prison and/or fines of up to $10,000.
The charge of official misconduct is a gross misdemeanor, punishable by no more than a year in jail. It arises when a public servant “with the intent to benefit personally or deprive someone of their rights, either commits an unauthorized act under the guise of official authority, or fails to perform a duty required by law intentionally,” according to the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners.
This story was originally published January 9, 2026 at 11:22 AM.
