"A Number Of Problems": Prosecutors Decline FBI Spokane Human Trafficking Investigation
In May of last year, Spokane County Prosecutors declined to file charges in a human trafficking case investigated by the FBI and the Airway Heights Police Department in Eastern Washington. In their decline memorandum, prosecutors wrote that the investigation included "a number of problems."
Even if the acts could be proved beyond a reasonable doubt, prosecutors wrote, the filing request for charges came seven years after the investigation was opened, pushing Washington State's statute of limitations for the crimes of robbery and extortion that were referred to county prosecutors.
"The extensive coordination w/ federal agents and reliance on federal procedures for ESP [electronic service provider] records request likely would not meet Washington State warrant requirements and the 'Silver Platter Doctrine' likely would not apply," prosecutors wrote. "In all, a case that we cannot proceed on at this time."
The FBI Seattle Division declined a request for comment.
The silver platter doctrine at the heart of any joint investigation between local and federal police requires all evidence for the prosecution be obtained lawfully under the Fourth Amendment.
When federal agents are involved in a case that ends up in local courts, the warrantless investigative tools federal agents have at their disposal can become a liability.
HardPressed previously reported that during the 2020 protests in Seattle, the U.S. Attorney's Office used warrantless ยง2703(d) orders, raising silver platter doctrine concerns from King County prosecutors.
The Spokane FBI case originated in 2018 and was operated by the FBI Seattle Division, including the FBI Spokane Resident Agency office. HardPressed reported the existence of the investigation after it was found within a document released through the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
HardPressed then submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the FBI for the full case file. In response, the FBI told HardPressed that "approximately 1,128 pages" of records were located, which could take almost seven years to redact and produce.
In response, HardPressed and the FBI negotiated a reduction in scope, narrowing the FOIA request to records from 2025 and to the first 50 pages of records, streamlining the request into a faster processing track.
Last month, the FBI released some of the case file to HardPressed, showing the FBI investigation involved two targets, one who was eventually charged and prosecuted, and another who escaped charges due to lapses from law enforcement.
The case file uses the "31E" and "50D" FBI serial classifications interchangeably, which involve White Slave Traffic Act and crimes of involuntary servitude and slavery.
After prosecutors declined to file charges, the FBI agent who led the case retired and transferred the case to a new agent.
Despite the evaporation of criminal charges, the new case agent wrote that, "all accomplishments have been claimed," referencing the FBI's internal accomplishments metrics database, which it touts publicly in the press and in Congress." As the investigation has been completed and there are no charges, the writer requests to close this case."
HardPressed does not know the identities of either of the FBI's targets in this case. They are redacted.
The investigation was part of the FBI's Innocence Lost National Initiative.
On August 29, 2025, FBI Seattle Special Agent in Charge Mike Herrington sent a letter to one of the FBI's targets, writing that they were free to pick up their iPhone that was seized by the FBI.