Police say prostitution ring may have served Seattle leaders Detective: Capitol Hill pimp told young man ‘he could be working for persons in positions of power, and specifically mentioned government leaders’

Seattle police have searched the home of a Capitol Hill man as part of an investigation into a purported prostitution ring said by one escort to service “persons in positions of power” in the city.

Seattle police have searched the home of a Capitol Hill man as part of an investigation into a purported prostitution ring said by one escort to service “persons in positions of power” in the city. Photo: SEATTLEPI.COM Photo: SEATTLEPI.COM Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Police say prostitution ring may have served Seattle leaders 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

Seattle police are investigating a purported prostitution ring said by one escort to service “persons in positions of power” in the city.

Detectives have searched a Capitol Hill home belonging to the suspected pimp, a man accused of pushing several men and women into prostitution. Police claim the man pressured one escort into using methamphetamine so he could “actually party at the parties and get with people too.”

In a sworn statement, a Seattle Police Department detective involved in the investigation said one former escort told investigators the Capitol Hill man named notable Seattle community members as his clients. Police now have custody of electronic devices and records that may prove that claim.

The investigation has yet to result in charges, and it’s not clear from court records what if anything investigators found on the electronics seized from the Capitol Hill man’s home. Contacted Tuesday for comment, Detective Mark Jamieson, a police spokesman, said the investigation is ongoing.

The Seattle Police Department has in recent years pulled back from investigations targeting individuals personally engaged in prostitute, going so far as to rechristen the squad previously tasked with those investigations the Vice/High Risk Victims Unit.

At the same time, the department has realigned itself to investigate pimps and sex buyers. Other police agencies in the region have made a similar shift.

Some workers in the sex industry have criticized the policies as coming from a puritanical aim to criminalize sex. In Seattle, the change has been widely, loudly cheered by the city’s elected officials claiming it is motivated by a desire to help people who would not choose to prostitute.

The Capitol Hill investigation appears to have been sparked by the latter motive, at least as it is described in a March search warrant affidavit sworn out by a Seattle detective with the help of a King County senior deputy prosecutor.

Writing in court papers, Detective David Sullivan said the investigation was launched in February after a young man came to police with claims that he had been sexually assaulted.

The younger man said he met his abuser at a Capitol Hill gay nightclub the month before, Sullivan said in a sworn search warrant affidavit.

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The older man, who worked at the club, “told him explicitly that he could be working for persons in positions of power, and specifically mentioned government leaders … not by name, but by role,” said Sullivan, a sexual assault investigator.

The older man said he provided male and female escorts to men and women, and named several well-known community members who he claimed to have served, Sullivan said recounting the younger man’s statement. The man purportedly claimed his escorts were paid $1,000 “per event.”

SeattlePI does not generally publicize the names of sexual assault victims, or those of subjects of criminal investigations unless charges are filed. Some details included in the detective’s statement have been withheld from this report to protect the identity of the alleged victim. Court records do not include the names of any of the purported sex buyers.

Sullivan said text messages exchanged between the men captured the older man describing supplying a young woman to a group of men after he “tested her out.” That the phone number involved tracked back to the older man appeared to corroborate the younger man’s story.

According to court papers, the older man then launched the younger man on “a grooming or training regimen” after photographing him at his home and a nearby park. The older man took the younger man to a bathhouse, telling him the manager there had previously hired his escorts.

He “said this manager coordinates and ‘hires’ for parties in Chicago, San Francisco, Vancouver and New York,” Sullivan said, recounting the younger man’s interview.

The younger man said the older man exposed him to methamphetamine, saying he needed to “work on being able to get hard while on this stuff so you can actually party at the parties and be able to get with people too,” the detective said.

They had a falling out in late February. The younger man went to police claiming initially that he had been drugged and raped on camera at the older man’s home.

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King County Superior Court Judge Steven Rosen signed off on a search warrant on March 1 that permitted police to seize electronics, drugs or other evidence related to the purported prostitution ring. The warrant was served later that day.

According to police statements, investigators seized a lunchbox containing crystalized powder similar to one described by the younger man. Membership papers for a Capitol Hill bathhouse were recovered, as were numerous electronic devices and cameras.

Sullivan was investigating the man on suspicion of second-degree promoting prostitution, a felony sex offense. Jamieson, the police spokesman, said that investigation continues.

Seattlepi.com reporter Levi Pulkkinen can be reached at 206-448-8348 or levipulkkinen@seattlepi.com. Follow Levi on Twitter at twitter.com/levipulk.