King County Assessor John Wilson was arrested Wednesday evening on investigation of stalking, according to King County jail records.
Wilson, who has been in elected office for a decade and is a candidate for King County executive, was booked into the King County Correctional Facility in downtown Seattle late Wednesday, according to jail records.
Detective Eric Muñoz, a Seattle police spokesperson, said Wilson was arrested for allegedly stalking and violating a court order. Charges have not been filed against Wilson.
The 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 accused him of a pattern of stalking and harassment.
It’s the second time that Wilson’s former partner, Lee Keller, a prominent local public affairs consultant, has taken out a restraining order against him.
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. Wilson had 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.
“John Wilson will tell this Court I initiated contact,” Keller wrote in her filing. “I had a temporary lapse into an old cycle of abuse and thought about re-establishing our relationship. The law anticipates this, and intentionally places the burden of adhering to the restraining order on the Restrained Party.”
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.
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.
“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.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
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