SNOHOMISH COUNTY, Wash. — Two men were indicted by a grand jury on Racketeer Influence and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) charges for allegedly leading a violent gang that targeted victims throughout Washington.
Kevin Thissel, 28, and Chris Johnson, 23, are in custody on federal charges connected to a deadly home invasion that killed Irah M. Sok, 36, in August 2022. Thissel has been in custody since April and Johnson has been in custody since 2022 on unrelated charges, according to officials.
Prosecutors are planning to charge the men in state court with first-degree murder, second-degree murder, first-degree kidnapping, first-degree burglary, first-degree robbery, first-degree theft of a firearm and unlawful possession of a firearm.
United States attorney Tessa Gorman said Thissel and Johnson were indicted on RICO charges for "leading and participating in a violent gang that terrorized from South King County to Snohomish County to Skagit County."
Gorman said the men terrorized families and children through robbery, burglary, kidnapping and murder. Authorities said the criminal group, led by Thissel and Johnson, wore dark clothing and masks and came to homes when they knew people would be there. Striking late at night or early in the morning, Gorman said the men would often kick in the door, sometimes announcing that they were law enforcement. Once inside the home, the suspects restrained the victims with zip ties and ransacked the home for valuables, Gorman said. Some of the victims were as young as 9 years old.
According to Gorman, this was the first RICO indictment in the western district of Washington in 17 years. She said RICO, an act established in 1970, is an important tool for law enforcement hoping to dismantle organized crime. Investigating each case separately instead of collectively, Gorman said, would not have allowed authorities to trace the full scope of the string of violent crimes.
"They terrorized families," Gorman said. "They terrorized children throughout our communities throughout the western district of Washington. And they did it through robbery, burglary, kidnapping and murder. They used fear to control their victims and they used fear to sow fear in our communities."
In the deadly August 2022 home invasion, police said Sok died of a gunshot wound. According to the Snohomish County Sheriff's Office, three men broke into a home on the 2600 block of 96th Street Southeast, located just east of Interstate 5 near Everett Mall in unincorporated Everett.
At least one of the men was wearing a mask or a disguise and another “possibly had his face painted,” a SCSO spokesperson told KING 5 crews at the scene.
The men who broke into the home made their way to the second floor where Sok was shot and killed, the SCSO said.
Officials said the husband went to a neighbor’s house and called 911 after the suspects who broke in fled the home on foot. A child was also in the home at the time. The sheriff’s office said the husband and child were OK.
Investigators said the criminal group was specifically targeting Asian-American families in their string of violent crimes.
This remains an active investigation and anyone with information is asked to call the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office Major Crimes tipline at 425-388-3845.