Former Maleng aide pleads guilty in sex-sting case

The former financial director of the King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office pleaded guilty Tuesday to trying to arrange sex and having sexual chats online with someone whom he believed to be two teenage girls.

Larry Corrigan could face a standard sentence of up to 2 ½ years in prison for one count of second-degree attempted child molestation and one count of communicating with a minor for immoral purposes. He is scheduled to be sentenced May 4 and will have to register as a sex offender upon his release.

After entering his plea, Corrigan was handcuffed by King County Jail guards and taken into custody. His attorney, John Wolfe, said Corrigan decided to plead guilty to move on with his life.

"He made a mistake. He needs to move through this and come out the other side," Wolfe said.

But Corrigan, who also has been accused of embezzling tens of thousands of dollars by King County Prosecutor Norm Maleng's campaign committee, could soon face additional criminal charges.

Late last year, just after Corrigan was arrested on the attempted molestation charge, the committee announced that Corrigan, who handled bookkeeping duties, had admitted to misappropriating more than $70,000 from campaign funds between May 2004 and early 2005.

Corrigan's family repaid the fund, but the committee hired a forensic accountant to formally audit the campaign's past three years of financial records, said campaign treasurer Mike McKay.

That audit was completed this week, McKay said. The committee will officially report the alleged theft to Seattle police, likely by the end of this week, for investigation, McKay said.

Joan Cavagnaro, Snohomish County chief criminal deputy prosecutor, who is prosecuting the sex charges, said she has been made aware of the embezzlement accusations and would pursue a case if it was referred by police.

McKay said Corrigan admitted to the embezzlement when, after his arrest last year, he surrendered the campaign's financial records.

Corrigan, 54, used two America Online screen names to chat with an undercover officer who was posing as a 13-year-old girl. Corrigan asked the girl to meet him and perform a particular sex act and bragged that he'd had sex with another teen, according to the police report. Corrigan sent the fictitious girl pornography and arranged to meet her at a video store in November on Capitol Hill, where police arrested him.

The second charge, just added Tuesday, involves another attempt to communicate over the Internet with an officer purporting to be a 14-year-old girl, said Cavagnaro, who is prosecuting the case for King County to avoid a potential conflict of interest because of Corrigan's connection with Maleng.

In addition to his role with Maleng's campaign committee, Corrigan was also active in the election campaigns of numerous local officials, including U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert, former City Attorney Mark Sidran and judges Mary Yu, Bobbe Bridge and Faith Ireland.

Corrigan was also the King County prosecutor's director of operations and budget for 25 years, until 2005.

Natalie Singer: 206-464-2704 or nsinger@seattletimes.com