I have done several stories about the former SERS (Snohomish Emergency Radio Systems) Director.
Mr McDermott was investigating some illegal activity going on over at Community Transit thinking he was doing a good thing he went to Mayor Jon Nehring and Lynnwood Police Chief Jensen with his findings and suspicions.
Instead of being rewarded for trying to uncover the corruption, Nehring and Jensen went on the attack against him.
Then Mr McDermott had the nerve to give one of his employees a raise and bring a part time employee on full time with out their permission.
Next thing you know he is being brought up on charges and he is being thrashed in the media. The Lynnwood Police served 3 separate warrants on Mr McDermott’s Property and they took many items which did not belong to SERS.
Mr McDermott supposedly committed suicide and I can promise you he did not, the official ruling was that he inhaled nitrous oxide gas which is implausible given that his body, the tank and the tubing were in three different places.
They are harassing his family now according to a family acquaintance. I’m not sure what exactly they are doing to them but they just lost their loved one who was lied about and that is wrong on every single level.
So I fired off a letter to everyone involved in SERS and Community Transit:
SERS Director Mark McDermott Public Shaming, Death & Community Transit Corruption
4/22/2016 9:19 PM
From: SnoCo Reporter
To: susan.neely — Wiz — thoward@townofwoodway.com — ksaltonstall@townofwoodway.com — twhitson@townofwoodway.com — breading@firedistrict1.org — mgordon@ci.everett.wa.us — ewiddis@firedistrict1.org — rschrock@firedistrict1.org — jgregerson@mukilteowa.gov — calexander@mukilteowa.gov — c.macklin@mukilteowa.gov — mltpd@ci.mlt.wa.us — cityhall@ci.mlt.wa.us — grege@cityofmillcreek.com — ppruitt@cityofmillcreek.com — jnehring@marysvillewa.gov — policedepartment@ci.lynnwood.wa.us — police@everettwa.gov — shaugen@everettwa.gov — rstephanson@hotmail.com — james.lawless@edmondswa.gov — al.compaan@edmondswa.gov — dwilliams@ci.everett.wa.us — Deborah Wright — mcatlett@ci.brier.wa.us — michael.nelson@edmondswa.gov — rcolinas@ci.brier.wa.us — laura.caster@snoco.org — brian.haseleu@co.snohomish.wa.us — Brad Cattle — askdoj@usdoj.gov — dave.somers@snoco.org — joe.neigel@ci.sultan.wa.us — ghurst@ci.lynnwood.wa.us — pcudaback@monroewa.gov — mtodd@cityofmillcreek.com — jans@arlingtonwa.gov — terry.ryan@snoco.org — hamilton@snohomishwa.gov — dave.earling@edmondswa.gov — mayor@ci.stanwood.wa.us — stephanie.wright@snoco.org — emmett.heath@commtrans.org
I am writing in regards to the former SERS Director Mark McDermott, the public accusations some of you have made against him & about his untimely death.
Someone tried to set him up at DEM saying he stole a bunch of radios but I found a meeting minutes note that clearly showed that these radios had been given to another agency in cooperation with the DEM.
I did contact him at that time to let him know that I had gotten a malicious tip and that I had disproved it.
I am going to be making some additional records requests just to let everyone here know in advance. Please be aware that I already have most of the info I am requesting I just need the parts that you have so I will know if you are withholding info.
A few days before his death he sent me a copy of his hard drive and about 600 gigabytes of documents and told me that if anything were to happen to him to make sure to publish it all. This was NOT a suicidal man, this man was afraid for his life.
Please note that if any of you try to do anything to me or my family I have already shared all the info onto the US Journalists site, I have given it to the people at Wikileaks and I have disseminated copies to several different branches of Anonymous and I have it posted on 5 different websites as drafts, all I have to do is hit publish or if I don’t change the date it will self publish, just in case I end up dead in the doghouse “by inhaling nitrous oxide with the tank all the way behind the shed and the tubing in the back yard”
I also know about the community transit situation Mr Nehring and Mr Jensen which is what seems to be what Mr McDermott came to you both about but instead of doing something about it you attacked him. McDermott did so much for that agency until Nehring and Jensen started coming after him. Just remember you are playing with federal monies, not just city county or state.
There is also a friend of Mr McDermott’s who is keeping me in the loop and I just found out last week that Detective Dilworth is harassing his wife and that you guys took a bunch of property that didn’t belong to you from their house. I should be getting another update by next week so I hope you guys have laid off of her, she already lost everything. I was told you served 3 separate warrants which lets me know you were grasping at straws, and not finding what you thought you needed. (Because it wasn’t there)
My questions are:
Who killed Mark MDermott?
Why did you disparage him so badly in the news with outright lies?
Why is the Lynnwood Police Dept investigating this when there is clearly a conflict?
Why are you torturing his family?
I already know and have proof that it was pre-authorized for him to get the gravel and the seeds, and that there was an agreement to keep the snocat at his house and that he was to build a shed to keep it in and get surveillance equipment for it as well.
You ALL better make this right, and clear his name or I am going to take all of the info I have and publish it and take it to his wife and family.
I don’t care what the authorities do with you guys, that’s your problem.
Many of you need to be in prison, not public office and if there is anyone on this email thread that is not corrupt I would try really hard to reign in the ones who aren’t and get them out of power. With everything I have: it seems to implicate 1/2 of you I have written to today. If I was you I would just go to your closest police station and confess whatever you’ve done, take your licks and move on with life because just as sure as you lied about Mr McDermott I will tell the truth about you.
I’ll deal with Community Transit later and believe me I will be investigating everything I have so far. Maybe some of you should stop stealing, lying, and breaking the law so I’d have nothing to write about.
Brandia ~ Investigative Journalist
Snohomish County Reporter
Never doubt that a small group of committed people can change the world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has
CC:
Jon “Wiz” Wiswell SERS Director 14900 40th Ave NE, #102 Marysville WA 98271
Brian Haseleu Budget Manager Treasurer SnoCo 3000 Rockefeller Avenue Everett WA 98201
Susan Neely Executive Director Snohomish County 3000 Rockefeller Avenue Everett WA 98201
Laura Caster E-911 Manager Snohomish County 3000 Rockefeller Avenue Everett WA 98201
Bob Colinas Mayor City of Brier 2901 228th Street SW Brier WA 98036
Michael Catlett Police Chief City of Brier 2901 228th Street SW Brier WA 98036
Michael Nelson Council Member City of Edmonds 121 5th Avenue North Edmonds WA 98020
Al Compaan Police Chief Edmonds Police Department 250 5th Avenue North Edmonds WA 98020
James Lawless Asst Police Chief Edmonds PD 250 5th Avenue North Edmonds WA 98020
Ray Stephanson Mayor City of Everett 2930 Wetmore, Suite 10-C Everett WA 98201
Murray Gordon Fire Chief City of Everett 2930 Wetmore, Suite 10-C Everett WA 98201
James Lever Deputy Chief, Everett Police City of Everett 2930 Wetmore, Suite 10-C Everett WA 98201
Debra Bryant CAO/CFO City of Everett 2930 Wetmore, Suite 10-C Everett WA 98201
Steven Jensen Police Chief Lynnwood Police Department PO Box 5008 Lynnwood WA 98046
Jon Nehring Mayor President City of Marysville 1049 State Avenue Marysville WA 98270
Richard Smith Police Chief Marysville PD 1635 Grove Street Marysville WA 98270
Pam Pruitt Mayor City of Mill Creek 15728 Main Street Mill Creek WA 98012
Greg Elwin Police Chief City of Mill Creek 15728 Main Street Mill Creek WA 98012
Jerry Smith Mayor Vice President City of Mountlake Terrace 6100 219th St. SW, Ste. 200 WA 98043
Greg Wilson Police Chief Mountlake Terrace Police 5906 232nd Street SW MLT WA 98043
Jennifer Gregerson Mayor City of Mukilteo 11930 Cyprus Way Mukilteo WA 98275
Chris Alexander Fire Chief City of Mukilteo 10400 47th Place West Mukilteo WA 98275
Charles Macklin Police Chief City of Mukilteo 11930 Cyprus Way Mukilteo WA 98275
Richard Schrock Commissioner SnoCo Fire District #1 12425 Meridian Avenue Everett WA 98208
Ed Widdis Fire Chief SnoCo Fire District #1 12425 Meridian Avenue Everett WA 98208
Brad Reading Assistant Fire Chief SnoCo Fire District #1 12425 Meridian Avenue Everett WA 98208
Kent Saltonstall City Council City of Woodway 23920 113th Place West Woodway WA 98020
Tom Whitson City Council City of Woodway 23920 113th Place West Woodway WA 98020
Tom Howard City Council City of Woodway 23920 113th Place West Woodway WA 98020
Emmett Heath CEO Community Transit
Stephanie Wright Council member Snohomish County
Leonard Kelley Mayor City of Stanwood
Dave Earling Mayor City of Edmonds
Jennifer Gregerson Mayor City Of Mukilteo
Tom Hamilton Council member City of Snohomish
Terry Ryan Council member Snohomish County
Jan Schuette Council member City of Arlington
Mike Todd Council member City of Mill Creek
Patsy Cudaback Mayor Pro Tem Council Member City of Monroe
Emily VanderWielen
George Hurst Council member City of Lynnwood
Joe Neigel Council member City of Sultan
Of course I didn’t hear anything back from any of these people I didn’t really expect to, but I did give them all a chance to comment.
(Please Note: While I was writing this story I did get a response from Mr Cattle, it was the only response but at least he acknowledged my email and my concerns)
I guess I kind of figured that maybe they would do the right thing and contact the same media they went crying to, to lie about him, and say they were wrong but they won’t. They have had a chance every day to make it right but they haven’t.
What I haven’t said, mostly because I didn’t want to cause his family any more pain is that Mr McDermott contacted me days before his death, he gave me about 600 gigs of documents and a copy of his entire hard drive, plus a few other items that I am keeping close to the vest. Once I heard that Mr Mcdermott had been found dead I immediately sent those off to a couple other activists and to a few sites for safekeeping after skimming through them.
That is why I keep saying that this was a man who was afraid for his life, not suicidal. He even went on to say that he had just ordered some of the finest cigars that he could afford and was looking at humidors to keep them in.
I discussed my letter with another journalist and they asked what I hoped to get from the email that I sent.
I was honestly thinking they may do the right thing, tell the other local papers they were wrong or lying and leave his family alone but then they brought up quite a few cases where they just went after people even harder, there is not one single time that they have ever admitted they were wrong or even apologized for their actions, not one.
There have been times they have been sued and couldn’t slime out of it so they had to pay but there was never any apologies, not even any remorse.
I have to wait til I get somewhere that has a good internet connection so I can download all of the stuff I got from Mr McDermott and I will post them here or create a whole site for the documents. From what I am hearing I think they are going to go on a full attack against his family and so I am going to make sure they have all the documents they need to defend against these miscreants.
Just look at what they did to Lori Shavlik and they had nothing to go on, just crap they made up but they took it to trial twice.
Mayor Nehring and Lynnwood Police Chief Jensen are the main players in this attack on Mr McDermott, Mayor Nehring not only heads SERS but is also on the Community Transit Board, of course it was the Lynnwood Police that are heading this investigation which is a clear conflict of interest. They should’ve called in the State Patrol or another agency from out of the county.
As I said before the statements that they made to the media made absolutely no sense whatsoever. This is an agency that operates primarily on Federal Funding and that means that they have to have 4 different methods of accountability in their accounting and spending. There is a committee that also checks all of the receipts as well, so to say there was a 30K tractor that was bought “without anyone’s knowledge” is pure lies. Every nickel, penny, and dime, has to be accounted for.
Just the few documents I kept before I sent off the rest of them is good enough to defend myself and his family with. Once I get closer to town I’ll get the rest of the documents and just post them all so that you can see them all but it’s going to take me a few days.
So I fear I might have made it worse by calling them out when all I hoped to do was to get them to lay off of his family.
There is also the matter that it is tax dollars that are being spent and wasted and I have a duty to the public to bring that to light.
So if I end up in jail over some false charges too you know why, or if they go after his family don’t believe a single word they say.
As I have said I went after public records and all I have gotten so far is the run around but I am going to keep digging until I get to the truth and I am going to have some help.
Please remember: Do not believe everything you read, not even from me. Research and investigate things for yourself.
This man can no longer speak for him self and so I will, but I am also working on 4 other big stories so please be patient with me.
