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City, county sued over Giles

By John Larson

Tacoma Weekly
jlarson@tacomaweekly.com
Published on: August 21, 2008

A woman is suing the city of Tacoma and Pierce County claiming they negligently allowed a police officer to take home two videotapes that showed her being sexually abused as a child.

The officer in question is Lee William Giles, Jr. He is now in prison, serving a sentence of 19 years to life for child sex crimes involving other children. The woman, identified as K.W. in the lawsuit, also named Giles as a defendant.

She is represented by Tacoma personal injury attorney Jack Connelly.

The lawsuit claims county officials failed to destroy two videotapes, even though a judge had ordered them to do so by 1994.

The woman reported being sexually abused by her stepfather and claimed he videotaped some of the incidents. He was later arrested in Oregon on child pornography charges. Police seized the videotapes and turned them over to Pierce County Sheriff’s Department. They were placed in a property room in 1991.

The stepfather was later convicted of sex crimes against children.

According to the lawsuit, the tapes were kept in the county’s evidence room. For part of his career, Giles shared an office with a sheriff’s deputy next to the storage room. Both had keys to it.

Giles was a well-known and well-respected police officer, both during his career and into his retirement. In many ways he was the face of Tacoma Police Department. He hosted “Behind The Shield,” a program on TV Tacoma on police and fire issues. He often visited children in elementary schools with his “talking” motorcycle, giving them advice on keeping safe.

After his retirement, Giles did the voiceovers for the Tacoma/Pierce County Crimestoppers commercials, which solicit information on crimes from the public.

His public status changed drastically a few years ago when he and his girlfriend were arrested and charged with sexually abusing young children, at least some of whom were related to the girlfriend.

In the aftermath of his arrest and the subsequent investigation, police officers searching Giles’ home found the two videotapes from the K.W. case.

Tacoma City Attorney Elizabeth Pauli said the city was served with the lawsuit last week. On Aug. 19, she said she had not read through the paperwork because she had been out of town. She refused to make any other comments on the matter.

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