Trial Begins: Edmonds Police Officer Accused of Having Sex With Woman He Detained

The trial has begun for former Edmonds police officer Daniel Timothy Lavely, who is accused of having sex while on duty with a 28-year-old woman he had detained.

Lavely, 48, says he never had sex with the woman and is expected to testify during the trial, according to The Everett Herald.

He was charged in November with first-degree custodial sexual misconduct, a felony, after Everett police detectives conducted an investigation. At the time of the alleged incident, May 2012, Lavely had been a 7½-year employee of the Edmonds Police Department assigned to the patrol division.

A 28-year-old woman alleged that on May 7 at about 2:30 a.m. Lavely had sex with her while she was in custody in a deserted parking lot on Highway 99 in Edmonds, according to court documents.

The report says that the woman first came in contact with Lavely when he stopped her for jaywalking on May 6 at 7:50 p.m. Lavely detained her for about 40 minutes as he checked on a King County warrant in her name. He then gave her a ride to Top Food and Drug on Highway 99 in Edmonds.

Later that evening, the report says, the woman ended up at a motel on Highway 99 in Edmonds.

The next morning, at 2:20 a.m., a man whom the woman met at the motel called 911 and said he was concerned about her drug use. The woman said that Lavely contacted her at the motel and told her to come with him. She said Lavely then put her in the back seat of his car without handcuffs and drove to the secluded area of Burlington Coat Factory's parking lot.

The report says that Lavely, after conducting a search of her body, initiated sex with her on the Edmonds police patrol car.

The Everett police report says that Lavely then left the woman at Burlington Coat Factory. The woman walked around the store and met a street sweeper. They had a short conversation before she continued to Highway 99, where a man gave her a ride to 7-Eleven and then eventually back to Andy's Motel.

According to the 911 tape, Lavely advised dispatch that he picked up the woman at 3:08 a.m. and completed the transport at 3:12 a.m. Lavely said that he was giving the woman a courtesy ride from the 22200 block of Highway 99 to a bus stop near Costco in Shoreline’s Aurora Village.

The report says that Lavely told dispatch his mileage, which was rounded to 1 mile. The report noted that the distance from the motel to the bus stop is greater than 2 miles, and that the street sweeper estimated that he made contact with the woman at about 3:07 a.m. to 3:12 a.m.

In addition, a video from 7-Eleven showed the woman in the parking lot at 3:12 a.m. The driver, who gave the woman a ride, purchased cigarettes at 3:13 a.m. The report says, “It is clear from the time line that (Lavely) was not transporting (the woman) at the time he notified dispatch.”

According to Kowalchyk’s statement, during an interview Lavely denied any sexual contact with the woman and denied searching her before placing her in the back seat of his patrol car on both occasions. He admitted not calling out when he initially contacted the woman at the motel, but said he did call out the mileage specifically from when he initiated and finished transporting her.

In the interview, Lavely admitted that his patrol car was behind Burlington Coat Factory, at the specific location at the approximate time of the assault, but denied that the woman was in the vehicle with him.