Copyright 2005 The Seattle Times Co

Some Seattle police officers have carried on relationships with exotic dancers at a notorious strip club, leading to allegations of misconduct under review by the FBI and Seattle police.

Yesterday, the department released a strongly worded report condemning one relationship, noting that Rick's strip club on Lake City Way is a "well-known, documented vice location" where blatant sex acts have reached unprecedented levels.

The report concluded that one veteran officer "embraced and passionately kissed" a dancer in Rick's parking lot while in uniform and outside his patrol area.

"A public display of affection with an employee/entertainer of the club reflects negatively on the Department, gives the appearance of a conflict of interest, and gives the impression the Department sanctions the behavior of employees of the club," the report said.

The officer, Rusty Leslie, was suspended for one day without pay, a punishment department officials did not explain.

Leslie's conduct "raises concerns about vice detectives working covert operations at Rick's," the report said. "Do the detectives have to worry that an officer involved in an amorous relationship with an employee of Rick's will reveal their covert identities or investigations?"

Leslie is among a small group of Seattle officers whose ties to dancers at the club have come to the attention of internal investigators and an FBI task force looking into alleged misconduct by officers.

In 2001, Seattle police informed the FBI Public Integrity Task Force that one of their officers may have tipped off a Rick's dancer to the fact that her former boyfriend was being sought for questioning in a Kirkland murder investigation.

Another officer helped the club by handling disturbances informally, responding to cellphone calls from managers without contacting dispatch or filing incident reports, according to two dancers interviewed by The Seattle Times.

A watch commander who retired recently said officers' relationships with dancers have long troubled the department.

"I can say that, all along, the department has never been happy about its officers dating these dancers," said Dick Schweitzer, a 35-year veteran who supervised some of the officers who have come under scrutiny. "These girls often have criminal histories. Some of them use drugs. It can put officers in a very vulnerable situation."

Kerlikowske comments
Cellphone calls put officers "in jeopardy"

Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske, interviewed last week, said he was aware of the parking-lot and Kirkland matters. He said some of the behavior, if proven true, would concern him.

For example, he said, "It's unacceptable for them to get calls on the cellphone. It questions the officer's judgment. They're putting themselves in jeopardy."

But overall, he declined to pass judgment, saying he was awaiting more information on the FBI's investigation, which has lasted four years. The task force is expected soon to turn over information to the department.

The task force is investigating a wide range of alleged misconduct, including whether at least five officers working off-duty at downtown nightclubs have overlooked illegal drug dealing and liquor violations or associated with suspected criminals.

Kerlikowske said he has stressed to officers that they are expected to meet professional standards and to act ethically and with integrity. But, he said, the department is hamstrung in enforcing the department's policy on personal associations.

The policy states that employees "must avoid associations with persons, both on and off duty, which might reasonably be expected to compromise their integrity or credibility or the image of the Department."

Kerlikowske said that in courts and arbitration hearings nationwide over recent years, "that language is not being upheld."

He said he can act only when an officer breaks the law or violates other department regulations.

Sgt. Kevin Haistings, the president of the Seattle Police Officers' Guild, yesterday questioned the department's punishment of an officer over a personal relationship.

Police officers, he said, "do not give up their constitutional rights" when they are given a badge and gun.

He said he understands the concern that some behavior could embarrass the department. But from the guild's standpoint, unless that behavior is illegal or unethical, it is none of the department's business, he said.

Conduct unbecoming
Officer's embrace, kiss with dancer investigated

In the parking-lot matter, internal investigators concluded that Leslie, 44, an 17-year veteran, engaged in conduct unbecoming an officer on July 11, 2004, with a longtime dancer at Rick's, according to the department report made public yesterday.

Leslie's name was blacked out in the report, but Kerlikowske, who upheld the finding, and other police officials confirmed the incident involved him.

The case originated with an anonymous complaint from a citizen, who reported that Leslie embraced and kissed the dancer at or near his patrol car in the club's parking lot, said the report, dated Dec. 14 and obtained through a public disclosure request.

The dancer has been cited 11 times by Seattle officers since 1997 for having sexual contact with customers and for offstage nudity, court records show. She declined to comment when contacted by a Times reporter.

Leslie told The Times he doesn't plan to fight the one-day suspension, but he would not discuss the incident.

He told internal investigators, through a representative of the police guild, that he had been dating the dancer for five years. He likened the kiss to one that someone might share with a spouse or a friend at a restaurant or at work.

"This line of logic fails to take into account the numerous complaints about criminal activity at Rick's, some of which allegedly involve the recipient" of the kiss and embrace, said the report, written by Capt. Neil Low, of the department's Office of Professional Accountability.

An "outward display of affection compromises, or gives the appearance of compromising, the Department's ability to deal objectively with complaints and illegal activity at Rick's," Low wrote.

The report said a sergeant in the department's vice unit reported that the level of illegal activity at the club is "the worst it has ever been, with blatant sex acts and code violations."

Low also noted Leslie's conduct occurred soon after a "well-publicized controversy regarding city councilmembers accepting illegal/unethical campaign contributions in exchange for their votes regarding rezoning and parking-lot expansion" at Rick's.

The club is at the center of a separate criminal investigation, in which King County prosecutors are looking into campaign contributions to three candidates made by club owner Frank Colacurcio Jr. and his associates during the 2003 Seattle City Council elections.

Kirkland killing
Witness to slaying saw confidential bulletin

In the incident involving the Kirkland murder investigation, detectives in the Eastside suburb suspected Officer Rene Flores showed a confidential police bulletin in 2001 to Teri Nelson, a dancer who worked at Rick's periodically from 1996 to 2001. Nelson then allegedly tipped off a witness wanted for questioning.

In some circumstances, tipping witnesses can allow them to alert suspects wanted by the police; develop cover stories; elude law-enforcement officers or arm themselves.

When contacted, the murder witness, Kyle Wilkins, told police he had been shown the bulletin, Kirkland Detective Randy Rogers told The Times. Detectives then determined that Nelson, Wilkins' former girlfriend, had likely shown him the bulletin.

Detectives learned of a relationship between Nelson and Flores, and were disturbed enough to refer the matter to Seattle police internal investigators, said Kirkland Police Chief Stan Aston.

The allegation may never be proven. Wilkins told The Times that it wasn't Nelson who showed him the bulletin, and Nelson said Flores didn't share confidential information with her.

Nelson acknowledged she dated Flores in 2001. But she said her relationship with him began after Wilkins was located by police, when Flores appeared in uniform at a party she threw for another dancer at a downtown hotel.

Nelson said her relationship with Flores led to him bringing her lunch at the club on occasion, and she recalled that Leslie was among three officers who socialized at Rick's both on- and off-duty.

Police vandalism
Officer fired for incident at Fremont bar in 2003

Flores, a six-year veteran, was fired in 2003 for vandalizing a rookie officer's police car, along with another officer, Matthew Wahlgren, while they were drunk and off-duty at a Fremont bar. They pleaded guilty to gross-misdemeanor charges stemming from more than $1,200 damage to the car.

Court papers said the two put the rookie officer in a head hold and yelled obscenities at a passing friend through the car's public-address loudspeaker. When the rookie tried to drive away, Flores and Wahlgren began kicking the car, bending its spotlight and cracking the windshield.

Wahlgren, a 10-year veteran, also had ties to Rick's, said Nelson and another former dancer at the club, who spoke on condition her name not be used.

"Matt was in there all the time," Nelson said, adding that club managers would call him on his cellphone to deal with problems.

The other former dancer said managers called Wahlgren because 911 calls were viewed as a "strike against" the club. Homeowners near Rick's have complained of rowdy behavior and condoms left in their yards.

Wahlgren, 35, would not discuss the allegation when contacted by a Times reporter.

Colacurcio, the owner and operator of Rick's, said yesterday that he was unaware of any illegal vice activity at the club, of any ties between dancers and police officers or of the parking-lot incident.

The Police Department, he said, has not informed him or the club's attorneys of any wrongdoing.

"I wish if they saw anything, they would let the management know," he said. "It would make a big difference."

Kerlikowske said officers shouldn't be responding to cellphone calls from clubs asking them to handle situations on the side without contacting dispatch or filing a report.

But he said officers responded to 165 calls at the club between 2001 and 2004 — enough that he considers it unlikely that some officers were informally handling problems on a regular basis.

But Schweitzer, the former watch commander, said unofficial calls from nightclubs to officers have been a persistent problem. He said he was instructed by his captain to counsel an officer working in Belltown about the practice as recently as last year.

Failure to appear
Seattle officer wanted by Bothell police

Wahlgren and Flores have appealed their firings, seeking reinstatement. Flores, 32, could not be reached for comment. He is wanted by Bothell police for failing to appear on a misdemeanor charge of assaulting a woman — a former waitress at Rick's — just weeks after he was fired.

According to a police report and an interview with the woman, Kim Cahill, Flores and an off-duty Seattle police officer were drinking at a Bothell bar, Rocker's, when the woman and her friends asked the men to buy them drinks.

One of the women was asked by one of the men to show her breasts in exchange for a drink, according to Cahill. Cahill then slapped the off-duty officer and was thrown out of the bar, she said, adding that she had never met either man before.

Outside, Cahill said, Flores jumped her from behind, slammed her head into a wall, choked her and kicked her in the face after she fell to the ground. She suffered extensive bruising and abrasions. Flores was arrested.

Kerlikowske said his department has opened an internal investigation into the alleged assault in light of Flores' appeal of his firing.

He also said he hopes to quickly deal with information he receives from the FBI. The FBI investigation began in 2001 with one Seattle officer and expanded to others, focusing on whether they engaged in corruption while working off-duty at nightclubs in Belltown and Pioneer Square. The first officer in that investigation lives with a former Rick's dancer.

The investigation was disclosed by The Times in November. The department then tightened rules governing off-duty work and launched an internal investigation to look at evidence uncovered by the FBI.

Under new rules, officers must provide specific information about their off-duty employers. Previously, officers skirted a ban on working off-duty for bars by listing neighborhood business associations as their employers.

Seattle Times Justin Mayo contributed to this report.