Trooper charged with felonies

A Washington State Patrol trooper was charged Tuesday with two felony counts of unlawful imprisonment and one count of official misconduct.

The alleged criminal activity occurred during an Aug. 18 traffic stop and was sexual in nature, according to documents filed by the Spokane County prosecutor’s office.

Trooper Mark Haas, a 22-year veteran with WSP, has been on paid administrative leave since the incident, officials said.

The 52-year-old trooper stopped a vehicle occupied by two women at East Bridgeport and North Market, said Deputy Prosecutor John Love. The women were 28 and 30 years old.

At some point during the stop, the women apparently believed the trooper was being sexually inappropriate and called 911, officials said. A WSP supervisor and Spokane police were called to the scene.

Neither the WSP officials nor the prosecutor’s office would provide specific information about what transpired between Haas and the women.

The supervisor immediately removed Haas from his duties, said Capt. Jeff DeVere, at the State Patrol’s office of Government and Media Relations in Olympia. The criminal investigation into the allegations against the trooper began that night, DeVere said.

“Obviously we take these matters very seriously,” DeVere said.

WSP forwarded its investigation to the prosecutor’s office on Sept. 7.

Prosecutor Steve Tucker, a former state trooper, said he stayed clear of the case, assigning it to deputy prosecutors and giving them wide latitude, because “I’ve known Mark for quite a while.”

Love is the prosecutor working the case.

Haas will remain on paid leave “until we have agreement from the prosecutor’s office that any action we may take will not adversely affect the criminal prosecution,” DeVere said.