EXCLUSIVE: Homeless Seattle man arrested on charges of holding social services workers hostage, demanding sex

Members of Seattle’s SWAT team took a man into custody who barricaded himself inside a homeless shelter in the Interbay neighborhood and held two staff members captive on Tuesday afternoon, threatening them with sexual violence.

According to court documents obtained by The Post Millennial, the suspect, Michael Glenn Stanley, 49, allegedly barricaded the door of his case worker's office at the Department of Emergency Service’s Interbay Place facility on 15th Ave W. with a chair and prevented the victims, identified as ES, his caseworker, and HM from leaving, as well as staff and police from entering.



The defendant brandished a silver folding knife in front of the victims and threatened to slit the victims’ throats. 

According to the case investigation report, ES said leading up to the incident that Staley appeared no longer in touch with reality, and started referring to ES as "Shaleene," which the report stated was possibly a former girlfriend.

According to the King County Prosecutor’s office, the defendant demanded that they give him “head” and take their clothes off. The defendant removed his pants and touched his penis in front of the victims. 49-year-old ES and 46-year-old HM were in fear that the defendant would carry out his threats.

SWAT had to force entry into the office to take Stanley into custody after the defendant failed to cooperate with the SPD Hostage Negotiations Team for a full hour, forcing officers to tase him after he resisted arrest.

Stanley has 22 priors in Washington including assault dating back to 2003 and other convictions from Las Vegas from as far back as 1995.

He is in custody in King County Jail after prosecutors charged him with Felony Harassment and Unlawful Imprisonment (Sexual Motivation). Prosecutors have asked for bail to be set at $500,000. His arraignment is scheduled for August 3.

According to the DESC website, Interbay Place “…provides 97 units of permanent supportive housing for formerly homeless adults who are living with mental illnesses, substance-use disorders, and other disabling conditions. “

The DESC has been plagued with allegations of mismanagement and safety issues. Earlier this year the first Seattle homicide suspect of 2023 was a prolific offender who was housed in a DESC facility. There has also been fentanyl exposure among the residents at another local facility. During the incidents, first responders were also exposed and taken to the emergency room for treatment and evaluation.

The agency's facilities held the majority of the top 20 destinations of Seattle Fire Department and medic responses in 2022, including the top 3 spots.

The most recent attack brought a spotlight back on Seattle officials' plans to defund the police and replace them with social workers.

In 2020, while the Seattle City Council was voting to defund the police by 20 percent and allocate the funds to social workers and community groups, a homeless man stabbed his social worker to death. Seattle City Councilmember Andrew Lewis introduced the legislation and stressed that the Unsheltered Outreach and Response Team should be completely civilian. "The city practice of using armed and uniformed police as agents of homelessness outreach and coordination is resolutely over," Lewis said in a statement.

Critics of Lewis' plan were tragically prophetic by asking if the social workers would call 911 if there was an emergency.

SPD has lost over 600 officers since the council began defunding the police.