Federal Lawsuit Alleges Lake Stevens Police Targeted Rape Survivor in Retaliation Campaign Involving False Charges, Ignored Child Abuse, and Coordinated Harassment

SEATTLE, WA — October 2025 — In a sweeping federal civil-rights lawsuit, Washington resident and domestic violence survivor accuses the Lake Stevens Police Department (LSPD) and the City of Lake Stevens of orchestrating a multi-year campaign of discrimination, retaliation, harassment, and systemic abuse after she reported being raped by her ex-husband and asked police for protection. She is not the first.

In the Plaintiff’s detailed 93 page Complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, she alleges in great scrutiny a knowing, orchestrated, series of serious constitutional violations and paints a damning portrait of a police department that openly discriminates, retaliates against survivors, as well as its own officers and community critics.

Timeline of Retaliation: What Was Done to Plaintiff

The lawsuit alleges a chilling pattern of escalating retaliation. The following events are backed by evidence and detailed in the publicly available federal complaint:

March 2016 Plaintiff first encounters LSPD when she reports non-fatal DV strangulation against her abuser.

February 11, 2020 Plaintiff, a known Domestic Violence victim, reports a violent rape by her abuser. LSPD arrests suspect, but shortly after calls off standard investigation. No follow-up. No charges. No victim support.

2020–2022 Plaintiff reports stalking and child abuse by her abuser. LSPD Officers repeatedly refuse to make mandatory report to Child Protective Services (CPS), including following in-person disclosures from Plaintiff’s children.

May 20, 2021 Plaintiff files a formal misconduct complaint against LSPD, citing racial and gender bias. Retaliation escalates and LSPD begins reframing evidence and building a case against Plaintiff.

June 2021 Plaintiff contacts KOMO News about LSPD retaliation. A journalist contacts LSPD leadership. LSPD hard stops the story from running, identifying Plaintiff as a nuisance, and retaliation intensifies. That summer, LSPD again ignores and fails to make mandatory report of child abuse involving the same abuser.

January 25, 2022 Plaintiff calls 911 after finding her children left alone in a running car in parking lot. Instead of investigating the endangerment, LSPD officer(s) make special efforts to ensure Plaintiff is charged with spurious violation of a temporary restraining order based on her observing and reporting to 911. LSPD withholds exculpatory evidence, a Brady and ethical violation later acknowledged by Deputy Chief of LSPD.

February 2022 Prosecutors drop the felony rape case against Plaintiff’s abuser, citing to the strategically pending spurious criminal allegations against Plaintiff, based entirely on LSPD’s recommendation, Plaintiff was not informed, but the charge was later dropped with apologies to Plaintiff. LSPD never interviews her alleged rapist or key eyewitness.

June 13, 2022 Shell criminal charge against Plaintiff is dismissed, however, only after she submits all exculpatory evidence herself. Officer(s) of LSPD leadership face no discipline.

Summer–Fall 2022 Plaintiff’s children disclose repeated sexual and physical abuse by their father, Plaintiff’s abuser. Officers again fail to notify CPS, gaslight the children, and relay their victim disclosures directly to their alleged abuser. One such officer appears in video evidence praising the abuser, stating, “I wish I could do more.”

September 2022 Plaintiff’s children refuse to go with their father alleged abuser, sobbing and expressing fear of what he may do to them. LSPD tells Plaintiff they won’t help, “it’s a civil matter,” hand her a DV pamphlet, and sends her home with the children. Days later, Plaintiff loses custody of her children based on failure to provide them to her abuser. The judge cites a lack of police and CPS documentation to corroborate Plaintiff, records LSPD refused to generate.

May 2023, Dec 2023 Plaintiff further alleges Defendants intentional and malicious, and knowingly fraudulent, interference with Plaintiff’s reporting to third party law enforcement, identifying Plaintiff as in “mental crisis” and “having history of false reporting” preventing her access to police protection.

January 2024 LSPD responds to 911 call from Plaintiff’s abuser, new victim wife, seeking police intervention for her protection and the protection of the three little boys in her care.

A Broader Pattern Unveiled: Not Just One Woman

Plaintiff’s First Amendment protected social media posts about LSPD misconduct triggered dozens of responses from other Lake Stevens women reporting similar experiences of harassment, dismissal, and abuse. Common themes included:

- Officers siding with abusers

- Retaliation for reporting domestic violence

- Victims misrepresented in official reports

Hashtags presented included: #DefundCorruptPolice, #DomesticViolenceAwareness, #LakeStevensPD, #MeToo, #PoliceWontHelp

Even Officers of LSPD Have Reported Retaliation and Sexual Harassment from LSPD Leadership

Public records and local media coverage reveal internal retaliation as well. Multiple current and former officers have alleged:

- Retaliation for whistleblowing

- Suppression of internal complaints

- Pressure to remain silent about abuse and misconduct.

These accounts corroborate Plaintiff’s central claim: LSPD openly discriminates and flagrantly and routinely violates individual citizens constitutional rights, as in Plaintiff’s case, then silences dissent, whether it comes from victims, the press, or its own officers.

This Lawsuit Seeks Accountability and Reform. Plaintiff seeks to hold the Lake Stevens Police Department responsible for their:

- First Amendment Retaliation

- Equal Protection and Due Process Violations

- Civil Conspiracy

- Defamation, Slander and Malicious Prosecution

- Municipal Liability for Unconstitutional Custom, Policy or Practice, under Monell

“This isn’t just about one survivor and her children being silenced by the very people sworn to protect them. It’s about a system that protects itself at all costs, punishes truth-telling, protects abusers, and retaliates against those who demand accountability. Plaintiff went to the police for help and protection. She reported her rapist. She defended her children. And for that, she was criminalized and erased. For that, we demand accountability and federal intervention to stop this state powered abuse.”
— Carnation Legal Services LLC