A Seattle police sergeant who failed to report that his teenage son was sexually abusing his younger daughter for years has been placed in charge of the department's wellness unit, alarming officers who say he cannot be trusted to handle their most sensitive disclosures. The sergeant, who was never fined or criminally charged for the reporting violation, now oversees a bureau where colleagues are expected to confide personal crises involving stress, mental health, and substance use.
The abuse began when the sergeant's daughter was 8 years old and continued for seven years, according to reporting by KUOW. His son was 15 when the abuse started. The sergeant admitted his daughter told him about the abuse eight months before she told a medical provider, who then reported the allegation to Washington Child Protective Services, which alerted the Marysville Police Department. The sergeant also urged his daughter to tell her school counselor rather than reporting it himself, and he did not inform his ex-wife about their son's abuse of their daughter, per the same account.
A Marysville sergeant filed a complaint with Seattle's Office of Police Accountability on June 20, 2023, triggering an investigation that closed in January 2026. OPA concluded the sergeant's failure to report violated state law and undermined public trust in the department, finding he broke SPD Policy 5.001-POL-2 for adherence to state laws in an official case summary from the City of Seattle, designated Case 2023OPA-0273.
A Sergeant's Claim of Ignorance
The sergeant told investigators he did not know he had a duty to report as a sworn law enforcement officer, despite having been trained on mandatory reporting at the state law enforcement academy, the article notes. OPA Director Bonnie Glenn wrote that his lack of knowledge of the criminal law was not exculpatory, and that the statute appears designed to remove discretion and prevent reporting delays. During the eight-month gap before the abuse was reported, the sergeant's son presumably continued to have access to another child, according to the same reporting.
Washington state law requires certain professionals, including doctors, therapists, and police officers, to report suspected child abuse or neglect, and it specifically requires officers to report sexual abuse they learn about even within their own families. Under the state's mandatory reporter statute, Washington State Government makes clear that knowingly failing to report suspected child abuse is a gross misdemeanor punishable by up to 364 days in jail and a $5,000 fine. The sergeant's son was convicted of first-degree rape of a child and second-degree child molestation in Snohomish County Superior Court in August 2026, when he was 28 years old.
Chief Rejected Suspension Recommendation
OPA recommended the sergeant be suspended for one to three days, but then-Chief Shon Barnes rejected that recommendation and issued no discipline at all. Under Seattle's city charter and police union collective bargaining agreements, the police chief retains final sole authority over officer disciplinary sanctions, leaving civilian oversight findings strictly advisory, as Hoodline has previously reported. An April 2026 analysis by DivestSPD of 37 Seattle Police misconduct cases found Barnes imposed disciplinary penalties at or below the OPA's recommended minimum in nearly 70% of cases.
Barnes is no longer in a position to answer for the decision. Mayor Katie Wilson pushed him to resign on July 30, 2026, following public criticism over slow communications after a fatal mass shooting at the Bite of Seattle festival, and Interim Chief Andre Sayles was appointed in his place. Seattle taxpayers had funded more than $100,000 in hiring incentives and relocation expenses to recruit Barnes in early 2025 under a contract requiring five years of service, yet he departed after just 18 months, according to the Everett Post.
Officers Question Wellness Unit Assignment
SPD confirmed the sergeant's wellness-supervisor job title, placing him atop the Employee Support Services Bureau, which the department describes as handling confidential peer support, mental health counseling, critical incident stress management, and substance abuse resources for personnel. A female Seattle police officer said she does not see how the sergeant can effectively care for vulnerable officers, and told KUOW that mandatory-reporting obligations apply to personal situations involving officers' family members and neighbors, not just their professional duties. Seattle police employees are troubled by the department's choice to put him in charge of a unit that handles sensitive disclosures from employees and their families about stress, mental health, and substance use, the outlet reported.
Neither the sergeant nor SPD's media office responded to KUOW's requests for comment. The case lands amid a broader shakeup in SPD's oversight structure: a 13-year federal consent decree overseeing the department was formally lifted in April 2026, ending federal court supervision and shifting full disciplinary oversight to local civilian agencies, according to the City of Seattle Office of Inspector General. OPA is now led by Director Bonnie Glenn, a former administrative law judge and King County prosecutor confirmed by the Seattle City Council in November 2025.
The dispute over the sergeant's discipline follows a pattern of turmoil atop SPD's command structure. Former Chief Adrian Diaz was removed in 2024 amid internal officer misconduct complaints and later filed a $10 million administrative claim against the city, as Hoodline has previously reported. With civilian oversight recommendations still nonbinding on whoever holds the chief's title, the sergeant's continued assignment to the wellness bureau remains unresolved.
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