EVERETT — A bikini-espresso stand worker, who admitted that she helped her boss rake in millions of dollars by selling sex at roadside coffee huts, was spared jail time Wednesday after cooperating in a criminal investigation.
Samantha Lancaster had agreed to testify against former Snohomish County sheriff’s sergeant Darrell O’Neill, who was sentenced to a year in jail after pleading guilty to one count of felony conspiracy to commit money laundering and two counts of misdemeanor official misconduct. O’Neill, 60, provided information about undercover police stings in exchange for sexual favors.
O’Neill came under investigation after baristas began talking about a “dirty cop” in Snohomish County who reportedly was supplying their boss with confidential police information.
Also convicted was Carmela Panico, former owner of the Java Juggs and Twin Peaks chains in Snohomish and King counties. The coffee hut investigation by Everett police and the FBI found Panico was raking in multimillion-dollar profits. She, too, agreed to testify for the prosecution and was given a first-time-offender waiver that spared her jail time.
Lancaster, 25, who managed stands for Panico, could have faced up to eight months in jail. She pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree promoting prostitution, a felony.
In his recommendation for no jail time, Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Bob Hendrix described Lancaster as “perhaps the least culpable” of the three defendants. He also said she had a heroin addiction that cost up to $1,000 a day.
Lancaster’s defense lawyer, Ama Okoro, said her client cooperated “even though she feared retaliation.”
Lancaster declined to speak when the judge offered her a chance to make a statement.
She was ordered to get a substance abuse evaluation and follow through on any treatment recommendations.
Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446, stevick@heraldnet.com.
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