King County Assessor John Wilson arrested in stalking investigation

King County Assessor John Wilson was arrested Wednesday evening on investigation of stalking and violating a court order, after police say he drove to his ex-fiancée’s house on at least three recent occasions in violation of a restraining order.

A King County District Court judge set bail at $50,000 on Thursday, saying she had serious concerns about whether Mr. Wilson is interested in following court orders.”

Wilson, who has been in elected office for a decade and is a candidate for King County executive, was booked into the King County Jail in downtown Seattle late Wednesday, according to jail records.

District Judge Jill Klinge found probable cause Thursday for domestic violence stalking, a felony, and violating a protection order, a misdemeanor. Charges have not been filed against Wilson. A second hearing was tentatively scheduled for Tuesday to determine if charges will be filed.

The Seattle Times does not typically name people who have been arrested but not charged. However, Wilson is a public official running for another office, and The Times has already extensively covered his case.

Wilson has been under a temporary restraining order since May, when his former domestic partner, Lee Keller, a prominent local public affairs consultant, accused him of a pattern of stalking and harassment.

Klinge, on Thursday, issued an additional no contact order, which bars Wilson from coming within 1,000 feet of Keller and requires him to surrender any firearms he may have.

“I have concerns that he would not follow my order to have no contact with Ms. Keller any more than he would follow the civil judge’s order,” Klinge said.

King County prosecutors had asked Klinge to set bail at $100,000 and to order electronic home confinement; Wilson’s attorney had asked for him to be released on personal recognizance.

Keller, her voice shaking, asked Klinge to “please help me stay safe by placing bail as high as you possibly can.”

“I’m afraid to leave my home, I’m afraid in grocery stores, I’m afraid when I attend events for business, I go out of my way to avoid places that I think he might be, but I can’t get away from him,” Keller told the court. “He’s taunting me and tracking me on social media.”

Wilson waived his right to appear at his court hearing and was represented by his attorney.

His attorney, John Polito, said Wilson and Keller were in a “publicly rancorous dispute” and stressed that there have been no allegations of physical assault.

He said that if Wilson were not a prominent elected official, the case would be treated differently.

“He drove down the road that was in her neighborhood, that’s the allegation, that’s it,” Polito said. “If his name were John Smith, your honor, we wouldn’t even be here with a $10,000 request for bail.”

Polito reiterated Wilson’s stance that he will not resign from office.

“We’re not here to try this case in the media,” Polito said. “My client is presumed innocent, we’re not happy that this case has been flipped on its head with these presumptions.”

According to a police report, Keller called police on Tuesday and Wednesday to say that Wilson was in his car, outside her Seattle home, in violation of the restraining order.

As police were talking with Keller outside her home Wednesday evening, the police report says, Wilson drove toward them in his black BMW before stopping and quickly turning around and leaving.

The officer pulled Wilson over. According to the report, Wilson said he knew about the restraining order but was there on “official business” and was looking to buy a home in the area.

A court hearing on whether to extend or dismiss the restraining order had been scheduled for this week, but was pushed back until next week. Before the hearing, which was held on Zoom, was pushed back, Wilson used the Zoom chat feature to write, “Lee, nice to see you. The court administrator then asked that no one on the hearing use the chat feature except for communicating with the court.

Wilson had previously asked the court in June to have the restraining order dismissed, but a judge refused.

Keller then filed a motion with the court to hold Wilson in contempt of the restraining order. She accused him of posting her image on social media, calling her eight times after the restraining order was filed, texting her hundreds of times, coming to her house and tracking her whereabouts, including showing up at her church and at professional functions she was attending.

Keller included in court filings screenshots of text messages with Wilson, in which she says their relationship is done and he persists.

“The scariest message was one where I said, ‘LEAVE ME ALONE!!!!!!!’ and he responded, ‘NEVER,’ ” she wrote.

It’s the second time that Keller has taken out a restraining order against Wilson.

Keller previously filed for a restraining order against Wilson in May 2024, accusing him of stalking, harassment, making a false report to police and falsely accusing her former boyfriend of sexual assault. That restraining order was dropped after the two reconciled.

“I have never stalked, harassed, or threatened Ms. Keller,” Wilson said in a statement issued by his campaign last month. “I have never engaged in any form of domestic violence.”

The Metropolitan King County Council three weeks ago voted unanimously to express no confidence in Wilson and to call for his resignation. Wilson accused the council, two members of which are running for county executive against him, of trying to force him from office for political reasons and said he would not resign.

Casey McNerthney, a spokesperson for King County Prosecutor Leesa Manion, said Thursday that because the prosecutor represents the assessor’s office in civil matters, they would be asking the Snohomish County prosecutor to take the case, to avoid any conflict of interest.