MONROE — A former small town police chief is accused of systematically drugging and sexually assaulting a former girlfriend, all the while leading her to believe he was protecting her with the help of a secret society of law enforcement officers known as The Family.
A “long, elaborate ruse” is how Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Michelle Rutherford described the allegations.
An Everett District Court judge has found the accusations made in a 10-page police report credible enough to require $500,000 bail. The document alleges a high degree of manipulation through a series of deceptions. It included an attempt to frame a co-worker for the woman’s drug-induced illnesses.
Robert C. Lindsay, 45, was once the police chief of the Rainier Police Department in southwest Washington. He worked there from 1999 to 2004. He also had brief stints with the Asotin County Sheriff’s Office and Mossyrock Police Department in 2004 and 2005. His lawyer last week told Judge Tam Bui that Lindsay had “”a long history in law enforcement — 18 years.” Now, he’s locked up in the Snohomish County Jail.
Monroe police arrested him last week for investigation of domestic violence rape and assault with sexual motivation. The woman also has obtained a protection order against him.
His former girlfriend brought her suspicions to police Feb. 12, two months after she said she ended a relationship with Lindsay, with whom she has a young child. He’d once been her supervisor at a King County driving school business.
She described how she believed he was tracking her movements through an app, and also would go into her home without permission when she was at work. She suspected that he’d spiked her coffee and wine with drugs, as well as electrolyte drinks that he allegedly told her would make her feel better.
She told a detective that Lindsay gave her a coffee as he drove her to work on Jan. 11. She said the drink made her feel tingly and high and caused her heart rate to jump.
That evening, she said Lindsay came to her Monroe home to discuss his business ventures and brought a bottle of wine with a screw top. That drink also left her reeling. When Lindsay allegedly brought her a glass of water, it tasted “as if she was chewing on aspirin.” Things around her became blurry.
Her condition worsened. She recalled how she was aware of what was going on but felt “paralyzed,” and could not get up off the floor or into bed by herself.
She said she asked Lindsay to call 911, but he allegedly told her if he did her children could be taken away. She said she also asked him to call her mother, but reportedly was told, “You need to do whatever it takes to keep your mom out of this house.”
She alleged that Lindsay attempted to have sex with her, but eventually gave up after she resisted and screamed.
She said she felt the next day as though she’d been run over by a truck. Lindsay allegedly called her to say he had found something in her home but would not tell her over the phone “in case someone is listening.” He later told her he found syringes under her bed, vials of liquid behind her printer and baggies of crystals under the passenger seat of her car
“All during the weekend, I was going in and out of consciousness,” she wrote in her petition for the protection order.
Lindsay allegedly told her he took swabs of her vomit and other samples and they tested positive for methamphetamine. He attempted to convince her that a co-worker she’d gone out with on a date was the culprit trying to drug her.
The woman also allegedly described how Lindsay told her he was part of a special team called “The Family,” which he had worked with as a law enforcement officer. The Family, he allegedly told her, could be called on occasions when police needed to enter a home without a warrant. The Family, who detectives believe was the suspect, sent her text messages saying how she should trust Lindsay and that he is a good person, that they would have people watching out for her and that she was safe.
She was told the Family made a duplicate copy of her cellphone for analysis and convinced her to provide her log-in and password information for her social media accounts.
Lindsay allegedly continued to give the woman more of an electrolyte drink. Again, she began to feel sick. On Jan. 14, she reportedly woke up naked with Lindsay next to her. He reportedly told her that while she was sick, he’d answered her cellphone and threatened the man she’d dated that he would “bury him” if he ever found out that he was in the same room with her. The man later described the threat to police.
Later, Lindsay allegedly told the woman that “analysts” with The Family had linked the man she had dated with drug dealing.
The woman said she discovered that a case of water Lindsay allegedly brought her had small holes in the tops of each bottle. She suspected they had been tampered with.
She threw them away. She told detectives Lindsay became upset, saying they both had consumed some of the water. He allegedly told her, “Don’t go to the police, we are in this together” and “Don’t lose trust in The Family.”
She described a time Lindsay allegedly took her to a King County house that he said he believed to be the source of the drugs that ended up in her system. Again, she said she was given a drink and had a hard time walking. During the visit, she was led to believe that the co-worker she’d dated was somehow connected to her sickness.
On Jan. 28, she received an email that appeared to be from Lindsay. It said one of the “problem persons” were “taken care of.” She later received a newspaper clipping of a homicide involving a suspected drug dealer in Renton. Monroe police determined there was no connection to their case and that two teenagers had been charged with the murder.
When the woman was interviewed by police in February, she brought with her hand-written notes describing what had happened to her. She also provided screen shots of different communications that had transpired and she handed over a zippered pouch.
“My daughter came to me with a green Puma glasses case as if to open it for her,” she wrote.
The case had been found in her young daughter’s playroom. Inside was a syringe, a broken glass pipe and a small plastic bag with white crystal-like substance.
Police said it tested positive for methamphetamine. The substance as well as blood and urine samples from the woman have been sent to a lab for further analysis.
Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446; stevick@heraldnet.com.
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