Seattle cops caught using drugs and prostitutes.

An undercover operation into Dancing Bare, a north Seattle strip club, leads to charges against two Seattle police force veterans.

The operation was launched in August of 2016 to determine if the club was breaking Washington State laws regarding prostitution. During the operation, it was found Seattle police officer Robert Marlow was involved in illegal activities that were ongoing at the club.

Marlow was dating a dancer who worked at Dancing Bare, the two of them even shared an apartment. Upon her arrest, Marlow’s girlfriend pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges and admitted to using narcotics with him. The couple used cocaine and MDMA.

The dancer stated that Marlow was responsible for buying the drugs and sharing with her.

As investigators interviewed Marlow, detectives obtained a search warrant for his apartment and found trace amounts of suspected cocaine, some intermixed on a plate with Marlow’s Costco card, atop a computer desk, according to the documents.
Detectives found an eyeglass case on top of the refrigerator containing two pipes, a baggie containing suspected marijuana and a Seattle police business card with “Bobby Marlow” handwritten on it with his phone number.

While investigating Marlow’s actions, detectives also discovered he had been regularly sending personal information to David Rose, an anchor for Q-13 news. The information was obtained illegally from a restricted police department database. Rose would then contact victims for news stories.

The Seattle police manual states inquiries through the records system are only to be made for legitimate law-enforcement purposes and are not to be shared with people outside the criminal-justice system without permission of the police chief or by due process of law.

According to papers filed by Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Amy Montgomery, Criminal-records information was sent to Rose between Oct. 19, 2015, and Feb. 11, 2016.

“David anchors Q13 FOX News at 9, 10 and 11pm. He is also Executive Producer and Host of Washington’s Most Wanted, a half-hour weekly crime-fighting television program that’s led to the capture more than 860 fugitives and helped numerous victims since 2008. David was awarded the FBI Director’s Community Leadership Award in 2010.” From David’s biography on Q-13’s website.

Under a plea agreement, Officer Robert Marlow, 47, pleaded guilty to solicitation to possess the drug MDMA and second-degree computer trespassing, both gross misdemeanors. The solicitation charge being lesser than the original violating the Uniform Controlled Substances Act, which is a felony.

King County District Court Judge Ketu Shah then sentenced Marlow to an agreed term of 30 days on an offender work crew, saying Marlow had “betrayed the trust of the community.”

“I went off the rails,” Marlow told the judge, apologizing for breaking the trust of his fellow officers.

But wait there’s more

Upon moving forward with an internal investigation the Police Department’s Office of Professional Accountability found a veteran Seattle detective was also entangled with Marlow and his girlfriend.

Philip Wall, a Seattle detective since 1988, admitted to using cocaine with the couple on multiple occasions. This would later be found to be only the proverbial tip of the iceberg.

Subsequent internal investigations revealed Wall had omitted information in his original interview. During a second interview, he admitted to investigators his interactions with a sex worker, marijuana use, and providing marijuana candy. The marijuana was not purchased from a licensed business but from his friends.

Wall also had sent pornographic text messages of himself to dancers at the Dancing Bare strip club.

Seattle Police Chief Kathleen O'Toole terminated Wall’s employment with the department after the investigations.

“I do not have confidence that you fully understand the gravity of your actions or the effects of such actions on the public trust,” O’Toole wrote. “Arrogance and a ‘boys will be boys’ mentality is not an excuse for illegal conduct.”