A Bellevue Police officer is facing criminal charges of assaulting his girlfriend, violating a protection order, and tampering with a witness. The latter two charges landed Officer John Kivlin, 48, back behind bars last week.
Kivlin, a 16-year veteran with the department, started an affair with the victim in September 2017. Both the officer and the woman are married with children. According to court documents, Kivlin and the woman met through Craigslist and developed a sexual relationship. The couple exchanged more than 18,000 text messages during their seven-month relationship.
The woman contacted Bellevue Police on April 27, 2018, to report Kivlin used the department computer to run her license plate. She also claimed Kivlin assaulted her on two separate occasions.
The King County Sheriff’s Office conducted the criminal investigation into Kivlin to avoid a conflict of interest.
The alleged assault happened in a car the two were riding in on April 3, 2018. According to the Statement of Probable Cause, the woman said something that upset Kivlin, and “without warning or right he swung his right hand to strike her in the left side of her face.”
The woman reported the incident to a sergeant with the department. Kivlin was arrested at his home in Gig Harbor. He posted bail and was ordered not to have weapons or contact the woman.
A week later, Kivlin obtained a restraining order against the woman claiming she made threats to kill him and then commit suicide.
“She was located 200 yards from my apartment with a firearm in her possession,” he wrote in the petition for the protection order. He also claimed she went to his other residence where his wife and children were sleeping.
Kivlin claimed the woman made false allegations in the assault case.
But according to charging documents, once Kivlin was released from jail, prosecutors believe he used a “spoof” number to text the victim multiple times, asking her to meet.
“I guess you never loved me. Why would you sell me out?” one message said. “I’m sorry I hurt you but you have to understand where I was coming from. I was about to lose you so I panicked and treated you like a ____.”
Kivlin was arrested on July 11, 2018, for tampering with a witness and remains behind bars.
King County Sheriff’s Office said their investigation is ongoing. Bellevue Police said Kivlin is on paid administrative leave while the department conducts an internal investigation.
