Sheriff's detective faces new misconduct charges

A King County sheriff's detective accused of stalking his ex-wife and stealing thousands of dollars from an 85-year-old man's bank account is now facing charges of official misconduct and promoting a prostitution business.

George Daniel Ring Jr., a 26-year law-enforcement veteran who worked with the Sheriff's Office's criminal-intelligence unit, gave the owner of an escort service advice about how her employees should and should not accept money from customers for sex and how the escorts shouldn't cross state lines for work because then it could become a federal crime, according to charging papers.

Ring, 49, also warned the business owner in August 2003 not to hire two women who he knew were working for the Sheriff's Office as confidential informants, charging papers said. He also allegedly gave the business owner the undercover name and physical description of a Seattle police detective, and he regularly tracked criminal histories for the business owner on employees and clients. The alleged crimes occurred between 2001 and 2003.

Travis DeFries, a Sheriff's Office spokesman, declined to comment on the new charges, which were filed in King County Superior Court earlier this month.

Ring has been on paid administrative leave since he was arrested in January 2004 on the original charges of first-degree theft and felony attempted stalking, DeFries said. Ring has been free since posting bond that same month. An internal investigation will be completed — and Ring's employment status will be decided — after his criminal trial, which is scheduled to begin March 7, DeFries said.

In the stalking case, King County prosecutors allege Ring used Sheriff's Office computers and databases to track his ex-wife. Doing so is a violation of the department's personnel and performance standards, and the allegation led to the new misconduct charge.

Ring was obsessive, according to charging papers. Between Jan. 8, 2003, and Jan. 13, 2004, Ring requested information on his ex-wife or her associates 520 times on Accurint, a commercial database service, and he ran at least 18 background checks on her, charging papers said.

Ring regularly gathered information on the finances, credit, housing, telephone numbers, criminal history and employment of his ex-wife, her family and friends, and he created detailed records on all her ex-boyfriends, charging papers said.

In the theft case, Ring developed a relationship with the victim and was named his trustee in January 1998. Investigators say Ring wrote himself at least $21,000 in checks from the man's bank accounts.

He regularly bought household items with the man's funds. And in 2002, Ring gave a woman he was living with a $15,000 loan from the man's accounts.

A King County sheriff's detective investigated the new prostitution-related allegations against Ring and reported that in late 2001 Ring called the escort-business owner because he thought his ex-wife was applying for a job as an escort. He apparently found the information after hacking into his ex-wife's e-mail account, according to the detective.

Ring told the business owner that if she hired his ex-wife, he would "ruin" the business owner, charging papers said. He told her "if she scratched his back, he would scratch hers," charging papers said. Ring worked with the business owner over the next two years.

Michael Ko: 206-515-5653 or mko@seattletimes.com