Former King County deputy arrested for drug theft - Seattle Post Intelligencer

A man who was a deputy for the King County Sheriff's Office for 10 years was arrested Monday for investigation several charges, including theft.

He is accused of intercepting tens of thousands of dollars worth of drug evidence from federal drug investigations that should have been turned in to the Sheriff's Office, court records indicate.

Mitchell Wright, 33, was arrested at 10 a.m. at his Bothell-area home, according to a Sheriff's Office statement.

He was booked into King County Jail for investigation of theft, stolen property possession, tampering and drug possession.

No charges have yet been filed, but he appeared in King County Superior Court on Tuesday afternoon and is being held on $250,000 bail.

Wright was assigned to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's Seattle Field Office from 2009 to February 2013, according to the probable cause affidavit.

In May, a Bothell police officer found a woman appearing to inject methamphetamine inside a truck registered to Wright at a McDonald's known to be the site of late-night drug activity, reports say. The woman told police she lived with Wright.

A search of the truck yielded drugs and drug paraphernalia.

The Sheriff's Office placed Wright on administrative leave July 3.

After taking back his assigned patrol car, sergeants found plastic bags containing heroin and marked with DEA case numbers, according to the probable cause.

The numbers on the bags were linked to cases that were not federally prosecuted and were left to the Sheriff's Office to pursue. However, it appeared the drugs in the car were never entered into evidence.

A records search indicated that Wright had diverted a volume of drugs with a street value ranging from $36,450 to $52,490, court documents say.

The deputy resigned July 9 in lieu of getting fired.