Pierce County sheriff has 18 misconduct cases; judge says his texts appear altered
Pierce County Sheriff Keith Swank had 18 open misconduct complaints before the state Criminal Justice Training Commission as of August 2026, the most of any Washington sheriff and up from 10 in April. Complaints cover posts about transgender people, Senate testimony rejecting lawmakers' authority over him, and records handling. In an Oct. 22, 2025 order, King County Superior Court Judge Michael Ryan wrote that Swank appeared to have altered text messages with private attorney Joan Mell to remove ones some might find offensive before giving them to a records officer, citing the felony statute on altering public records; about four dozen 2024 texts were later found missing. Swank said any omission was a mistake. A Seattle police report found he would have been fired there over his posts. He remains in office; the state sheriffs' group reprimanded him in March 2026.
It is noteworthy that Sheriff Swank did not provide all his text messages with Ms. Mell to the Public Records Officer.
a little more than four dozen texts Swank sent in 2024 were not included in screenshots
As of August, Swank had the highest number of such complaints filed against him at 18—an increase of eight since April.
Said he did not omit any texts on purpose and would resend anything missing.
Not yet contacted for this story.
No outcome recorded yet.