City prosecutor to review investigation in warming center

The Spokane Police Department’s investigation into allegations of sexual assault at The Guardians Foundation will be forwarded to the city prosecutor’s office for review, though it remains unclear if anyone involved will face criminal charges.

The expected referral comes months after police suspended their investigation into inappropriate, and possibly non-consensual sexual conduct between staff members and patrons at a homeless warming shelter operated by The Guardians Foundation last winter.

The investigation has resurfaced after The Guardians released police documents it obtained through a public records request last month. Police suspended their investigation in November after interviewing one potential victim, who told officers that the sexual activity between her and shelter staff was consensual.

As he released the police reports, Guardians Foundation founder and CEO Mike Shaw called for Jewels Helping Hands founder Julie Garcia to be charged with a crime. As The Guardians planned to meet with city officials to sign a contract to operate a warming center again in September, Garcia emailed city officials that “I saw with my own eyes employees engaging in sexual behavior with houseless women behind the Salem Lutheran Church.”

But in the subsequent investigation by Spokane Police, she admitted she “did not see anything that happened with any of these women,” according to police documents.

Last week, Garcia appeared to contradict her statement to police, telling The Inlander “I actually did see one instance of [a Guardians employee] having sex standing behind Salem Lutheran.”

On Monday, city spokesman Brian Coddington told The Spokesman-Review that the case file would be forwarded to the city prosecutor’s office for review. When asked if the prosecutor would be asked to look at the underlying case or if Garcia lied to police or city officials, Coddington said only that it would be reviewed “in totality.”

The city prosecutor’s office does not prosecute felonies, only misdemeanors and civil infractions.

Shaw alleges that Garcia intentionally emailed city officials to quash the contract negotiations between his organization and the city. Jewels Helping Hands, the organization founded by Garcia, ultimately won the city contract to operate a warming center this winter.

“My whole organization is on the brink of doing a complete overhaul of everything, eliminating services at all levels because of our ability to portray ourselves as a good organization,” Shaw said.

Garcia declined an interview with The Spokesman-Review last week. In a statement, she noted that she first raised concerns about The Guardians with city officials months before the contract was discussed in September.

“Bringing these concerns forward has never been a personal attack on the Guardians, but a plea for someone to investigate on behalf of vulnerable women,” Garcia said.

Garcia said she answered questions from police “to the best of my ability.”

“When I personally spoke with police in November of 2019, I was speaking on behalf of this one woman,” Garcia said.

By claiming to be acting in the interest of protecting victims, Shaw said Garcia is trying to “muddle it and try to create a smokescreen around herself.”

City Prosecutor Justin Bingham said Monday the case has not yet landed in his office. If it does, the process would begin with a review for potential conflicts of interest because the matter may involve city employees, Bingham said.

If there is a conflict of interest or an appearance of one, Bingham said the case could be referred to the county prosecutor’s office. If not, the city prosecutor would make a decision as to whether not to prosecute the case based on the police investigation.