Seattle PI – by Lynsi BurtonIn what King County Sheriff John Urquhart called a “slap in the face,” a sheriff’s deputy is accused of stealing agency equipment, dealing steroids and pimping out his wife as an escort.
Darrion Holiwell, a 19-year veteran of the sheriff’s office, was a SWAT officer and the chief firearms instructor who worked at the Ravensdale Range where the agency’s SWAT team trained, in addition to local FBI agents and King County Jail staff.
Some of the sheriff’s office’s equipment was sold to gun shops and credited in an account listed as belonging to the Sheriff’s Office, but it was not an official account than any of the agency’s accountants knew of. The money was then used to buy more equipment as a “slush fund” for SWAT and for Holliwell’s own gain, Urquhart said.
Some of Holliwell’s colleagues knew of the practice.
The sheriff said he was “flabbergasted” by the “police corruption” that came to light this spring.
“The worst part of this is the culture that allowed this to happen in the first place,” Urquhart said.
Two additional people in the agency are on paid leave pending further investigation for possible involvement in Holliwell’s activities. More still could be pegged for playing a role.
Holiwell, 49, was charged Thursday in King County Superior Court for investigation of second-degree promoting prostitution, first-degree theft and drug violations. He was arrested at the King County courthouse Thursday morning, where the sheriff’s office headquarters is located.
Holiwell is held on $150,000 bail and has been placed on paid administrative leave.
He is also the founder of Praetor Defense, which offers firearms training and equipment to the public. Holiwell is a competitive shooter on a national level.
Theft allegations
Detectives believe Holiwell took the man who supplied his drugs, as well as Praetor customers, to the Ravensdale range during off-hours, where he allowed them to shoot with county weapons.
The man who admitted to giving Holiwell steroids told investigators that Holliwell also gave him ammunition belonging to King County.
Holiwell also allegedly collected spent brass from the range and dealt it to local gun shops, sometimes for cash but largely for credit under an account listed under “King County Sheriff,” according to the affidavit.
No one in the sheriff’s office approved of such an account or of Holiwell’s practice.
From 2007 to April 2014, Holiwell exchanged more than 19,000 lbs of metal brass for credit amounting to more than $24,599, investigative documents indicate. He used credit to purchase tactical gear for SWAT and himself, such as clothing, barrel,s flashlights, gun slings and a $1,500 sighting system.
His partner was aware of the practice, court records say.
Furthermore, Holiwell turned in used county equipment for thousands more.
Though Holiwell’s exchange of county firearms equipment is believed to have stretched for years, he is only charged for thefts reportedly committed during a five-month stretch in 2007.
Though sergeants associated with the SWAT team and Ravensdale Range denied any knowledge of Holiwell’s practice in investigative records, Urquhart says they did know what Holiwell was up to. They’re still on duty for the time being, but “they’re not gonna get a free pass,” the sheriff said.
Nine other employees who have been on command staff with SWAT or the range in recent years denied knowing the theft was happening.
Investigators are working on auditing the SWAT and firing range’s full stock of equipment.
Prostitution
Separate from the theft allegations, detectives believe Holiwell hired out his estranged wife as an escort between May and September last year. Urquhart says she was a willing participant in the enterprise and that Holiwell took 80 percent of the proceeds.
The two would exchange information about appointments, clients and business strategy, the affidavit indicates.
The prostitution occurred during what was supposed to be a one-year separation for the pair to work on their marriage. However, she agreed to work as an escort because Holiwell underwent a surgery that would keep him from working at Praetor and from accruing overtime at the sheriff’s office.
Though she rented a condominium unit, where she invited her clients, she fully expected the two to reunite until she learned he was dating another woman.
The two had a “very volatile” marriage for about 14 years and are undergoing a “fairly bitter” divorce, Urquhart said.
Drugs
Furthermore, Holiwell is accused of dealing steroids to people inside and outside of the sheriff’s office. He also supplied his wife with marijuana and ecstasy for her to take during her escort appointments.
The drugs came from a dealer who lived in a condominium unit rent-free in a building Holiwell owned.
The man supplied Holiwell with several types of steroids and drugs used to counteract the effects of steroids, as well as “Molly” (a form of ecstasy), cocaine and Cialis. Holiwell used some of the drugs himself and also dealt to others.
The sheriff’s office is working to determine whether he dealt steroids to colleagues inside the agency. The office is not allowed to screen its employees for steroids, per state law and union agreements, nor is it allowed to research whether employees who are on steroids obtained the drugs by prescription or through illegal means, Urquhart said.
The man who dealt Holiwell the drugs has not yet been charged, but the sheriff expects he will be.
Tipped off
The probe into Holiwell started with domestic violence accusations from his wife.
His current wife – Holiwell’s third – left a note for his second wife, asking her to call her to discuss Holiwell’s behavior.
Holiwell and his third wife were in the middle of a divorce and he had custody of their two sons, ages 3 and 5, Urquhart said.
The women learned they were both victims of physical abuse at the hands of Holiwell.
The second wife, a hairdresser, shared the information with a client of hers, a sheriff’s office employee. That employee told her supervisor and the sheriff what she learned, which initiated the investigation.
Holiwell was known to own several firearms, but when deputies served a search warrant at his Seattle home, his gun safe was empty and “not one stray bullet” was found, Urquhart said.
Investigators believe a major crimes investigator tipped Holiwell off to the investigation – she is one of the two others on paid administrative leave. She is being investigated for rendering criminal assistance.
The other on leave is someone who worked at the Ravensdale Range.
Holiwell sent a text message to someone in the days before the search warrant was served on his home, indicating he knew he was being investigated.
“The storm is coming but I got something for there [sic] asses,” the text read. “Hang on, it’s about to get real.”
Holiwell ultimately wasn’t pinned with physical abuse because whatever incidents were reported fell outside the statute of limitations for charging. However, his wife spilled his other misdeeds to detectives.
Urquhart said Holiwell was well-liked in the department and a good firearms instructor – he even helped the sheriff himself improve his shooting score.
The sheriff said the Holiwell probe was handled internally instead of being handed to another agency because the sheriff’s office could conduct the investigation the quickest and most efficiently.
“We’ll clean our own mess,” he said.
Urquhart said that while misconduct is limited to an isolated and very small number of people in his agency, he takes responsibility for their behavior and seeks to cut out bad cops.
“I am on a witch hunt,” he said Thursday afternoon. “I am on a witch hunt to root out this kind of behavior in the sheriff’s office.”
Lynsi Burton can be reached at lynsiburton@seattlepi.com. Follow her on Twitter at @LynsiBurton_PI.
For more crime-related news, visit Seattle 911.
“The sheriff’s office is working to determine whether he dealt steroids to colleagues inside the agency. The office is not allowed to screen its employees for steroids, per state law and union agreements, nor is it allowed to research whether employees who are on steroids obtained the drugs by prescription or through illegal means, Urquhart said.”
There is all you need to know in the first place.
Then there is this part as well, that I’m sure indicates that they will be sure and take care of their own and minimize damage to the dept.
“We’ll clean our own mess,” he said.
When they make their own rules excluding themselves from drug testing, investigate their own personnel’ s wrong doing, and clean up their own mess, how is there to be ANY accountability??
More evidence to prove the “Brotherhood” that Stewart Rhodes is so fond of mining for memberships and product sales, is as they have been described.
Jacked up ROID heads who think they are above the law and endowed with special privileges. They can kick in your door at 4 AM and leave you in a pool of blood dead on your own living room floor, while they deal drugs, prostitute there wives out and steal funds from the people of the county that are supposed to be their employers and BOSSES!!
NOT their SUBJECTS!!
If they enforce the law and break it at the same time there should be severe consequences.
Anyone working for any Government agency is to be consider a potential threat to your well being, safety, and freedoms. Especially those wearing badges and carrying guns!!