Friday, February 10, 2006

Culture of Corruption: State files theft charge against former lawmaker

OLYMPIA, Wash. -- The state attorney general on Thursday filed a theft charge against a former state senator, Tim Erwin, accused of getting a government rate on 36 Alaska Airlines flights by passing himself off as a current legislator.

According to papers filed in King County Superior Court, the former Republican senator from Bothell defrauded the airline of $14,367 between September 2003 and July 2005 by showing a business card that identified him as a senator.

Erwin left the Senate in 1995 after serving a single four-year term. In 1994, he lost a Republican primary for Congress in the 2nd District.

After Alaska contacted Erwin last summer, he agreed to a repayment plan, said Assistant Attorney General Scott Marlow. At the request of the King County prosecutor, the attorney general's criminal justice division filed a single charge of first-degree theft by deception, although the complaint can be broadened to more counts, Marlow said.

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