Man facing lawsuit and child sex trafficking charge works for developer Harley Douglass
Mike Sackett, the Priest Lake man who beat the Environmental Protection Agency in the nation’s highest court and plans to plead guilty to attempted child sex trafficking, remains employed by Spokane developer Harley Douglass ahead of his sentencing while allegedly failing to pay area contractors a half-million dollars for work in North Idaho.
Sackett is scheduled to plead guilty in August to one count of attempted child sex trafficking stemming from an undercover Homeland Security Department investigation in October 2013 in North Dakota.
According to court documents, Sackett arrived at a motel in Williston, North Dakota, after texting with an agent posing as a man soliciting sex with a 12-year-old girl. Records indicate that Sackett expressed interest in the 12-year-old.
When Sackett met with the undercover agent, he repeatedly asked if the agent was a cop, then abruptly left the vehicle as the pair was negotiating payment and ground rules for sex, according to a sworn statement from Homeland Security Agent Darrik Trudell. He was subsequently arrested.
Sackett answered the phone for Crushed Rock Sales North America last week. He identified himself as a load operator for the company, incorporated by Douglass in February 2012, though the company phone directory listed him as operations manager. He referred questions to his attorney and hung up.
Sackett’s attorney, James Siebe, did not return phone calls seeking comment.
Matt Peak, owner of Sandpoint-based Peak Sand & Gravel, said it’s well-known among North Dakota businesses that Sackett is continuing to represent Crushed Rock Sales, which operates several gravel pits near the Bakken shale oil fields. Peak, who said he’s known Sackett since he was a teenager, has ceased doing business with the company because of the sex trafficking case.
“We made a moral decision that we wouldn’t work with a company like that,” Peak said.
Minutes from planning meetings in North Dakota’s Mountrail and McKenzie counties in April 2014 show that Sackett continued to represent the company after his arrest and as Siebe attempted to throw out the indictment on procedural grounds.
Sackett signed a plea agreement in April, a day before trial was scheduled to begin in North Dakota. The charge carries a potential sentence of up to 10 years in prison. He is wearing a court-ordered ankle bracelet and must remain in North Dakota ahead of that sentencing date.
The criminal case has put on hold a civil lawsuit filed by Cincinnati Insurance Co., the trustee in the bankruptcy of Sackett’s former company, alleging he misappropriated money issued for a sewer project in North Idaho.
The company alleges Sackett failed to pay subcontractors, many of them headquartered or with offices in Spokane and Coeur d’Alene, about $565,000, leaving the insurance company on the hook for the bill. The lawsuit was filed in May 2013, a few months before the child sex trafficking charge was filed.
The case remains on hold. In February, Sackett told the Idaho bankruptcy court that he and his wife continue to funnel all income to his criminal defense.
Douglass, a landowner and developer, also did not respond to phone calls requesting comment on Sackett’s employment.
The son of developer Harlan Douglass, Harley Douglass has been involved in a number of legal disputes in Spokane County over real estate dealings in recent years. Harley Douglass is the sole listed agent on the incorporation documents for Crushed Rock Sales North America.
The Environmental Protection Agency fought and lost against Sackett in the U.S. Supreme Court. Sackett, who owned property at Priest Lake, filled areas deemed wetlands by the EPA. In a unanimous decision in 2012, the high court said he had the right to challenge the EPA’s citation, expected to cost him and his family $37,500 for each day he didn’t remove the fill.