Lynnwood ex-cop to be sentenced for stealing evidence

LYNNWOOD — She knows her father has hurt people he loves. She understands his friends and fellow police officers feel betrayed by his lies and probably wonder if he ever was the man they thought.

Rebecca Marchand doesn’t offer excuses for her father, former Lynn­wood police Deputy Chief Paul Watkins. He has admitted to stealing thousands of dollars from the department.

Marchand does hope her father’s years of good deeds and sacrifice will not be forgotten. She wants to tell his friends and co-workers and the community that her dad’s feelings toward them are genuine. His compassion and his dedication to serve were real, she said.

“He is simply a man who was trying to take care of his family in the wrong way,” Marchand wrote in a recent letter addressed to the Lynnwood community.

Marchand, 28, plans to stand by her father’s side today as he is sentenced for stealing from the Lynnwood Police Department.

She wants the judge to know she supports her father — the man who taught her to help people, for no other reason than because it’s the right thing to do.

Most of all, she wants her dad to know that she is proud to be his daughter.

“There is more to a person than one act,” she wrote. “Our mistakes along the way do not entirely define who we are, or what we are made of.”

Watkins pleaded guilty to one count of theft in November in U.S. District Court in Seattle and was fired after 24 years with the Lynnwood Police Department.

Police Chief Steve Jensen in June launched an investigation into Watkins, one of his most trusted and well-respected managers, and opened the department up to public scrutiny.

Evidence from a 1996 robbery investigation, including $14,000, guns and cocaine, was missing. Watkins signed for the evidence but told Lynnwood officials he’d dropped it off in an evidence locker.

Some of the missing evidence was later found in Watkins’ possession. He later admitted to stealing thousands of dollars between 2001 and 2005, when he was the commander of investigations and oversaw seizure and forfeiture property.

Jensen has since said he believes Watkins was able to circumvent safeguards to track evidence because of his reputation. He was the last guy anyone would suspect of stealing.

The investigation uncovered that Watkins had a history of financial problems, including seeking bankruptcy protection as recently as 2004. He had made several suspicious cash deposits into his bank account.

Prosecutors believe Watkins stole about $95,000.

Marchand doesn’t justify her father’s actions. And Watkins is adamant that what he did was wrong and he must face the consequences, she said. But she wants people to know that Watkins doesn’t have a drug, alcohol or gambling problem. He didn’t buy a fancy car or a beach house with the money he stole, she said.

Her parents claimed bankruptcy because of a series of events that led to some financial hardships, not because they mismanaged their money, she said. They accumulated large medical bills when her mother was diagnosed with a neurological disorder, Marchand said. They battled against a mortgage company that improperly attempted to foreclose on a home loan, she said. Her mother quit her job to take care of the couple’s other daughter, who was nearly killed in a crash in 2001 while serving in the U.S. Air Force in Kuwait.

Marchand said her father “was a very caring, loving man in a desperate situation and felt he had only one road to take. What his friends can’t understand is why he didn’t ask for help.”

She believes her father was more comfortable carrying others’ burdens than reaching out for help.

Despite all of that, her father doesn’t offer any excuse for stealing and lying, she said. He is ready to take his punishment and move forward for his family and his friends.

“He’s already paid a huge price, a self-imposed price, and that’s the part I wish I could take away,” she said.

Watkins’ family will face the future together, Marchand said.

Reporter Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463 or hefley@heraldnet.com.