SEATTLE – A federal judge this afternoon sentenced former Lynnwood Deputy Police Chief Paul Watkins to 15 months in prison for stealing thousands of dollars from the police department.
Watkins, 50, apologized to his family, the Lynnwood Police Department and the Lynnwood community.
“I know what I did was wrong. My message is simple. I’m sorry,” he said in court today.
A federal prosecutor said Watkins abused his position of trust when he pocketed thousands of dollars seized from criminal investigations. He also obstructed justice when he three out evidence.
The investigation and Watkins’ subsequent guilty plea shook the department and community. Watkins was a well-respected leader in Lynnwood. He had worked his way up the ranks in the 24 years he’d been with the department.
Police Chief Steve Jensen called in the FBI in June after he learned that evidence from a 1996 robbery investigation was missing. Watkins signed for the evidence, including $14,000, guns and cocaine, but told Lynnwood officials he’d dropped it off in an evidence locker.
Federal agents found some of the missing evidence in Watkins’ Everett-area home. They also discovered that Watkins had a history of financial problems. He has sought bankruptcy protection as recent as 2004.
Watkins later admitted to stealing thousands of dollars between 2001 and 2005, when he was the commander of investigations and oversaw seizure and forfeiture of property. He pleaded guilty to one count of theft in November in U.S. District Court in Seattle.
Jensen has said he believes Watkins was able to circumvent measures to secure evidence because of his trusted reputation among the other officers.
Watkins’ daughter wrote a letter to the Lynnwood community to offer her thanks to the people who have supported her family. Rebecca Marchand also asked her father’s former fellow police officers and the community to remember Watkins’ many good deeds and service over the years. She also wanted to assure them that Watkins is the man they believed him to be.
“He is simply a man who was trying to take care of his family in the wrong way,” she wrote.
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