Seattle firefighter arrested for allegedly threatening Marxist city council member

Police have arrested a Seattle firefighter for cyberstalking, computer trespass and identity theft in connection with threats made to Marxist Seattle City Council Member Kshama Sawant on Feb. 12.

The employee is firefighter/EMT Andrew Finseth, 42, who was arrested Friday when he came off duty. In a statement, the Seattle Police Department (SPD) did not identify the council member, but in January Sawant said she had received threats from an email address that appeared to belong to a Seattle Fire Department employee.

According to SPD, police initially investigated one SFD employee, which led them to a second employee. The first employee was eliminated as a suspect, but officers arrested the second employee on February 12 around 12:30 pm, and booked him into King County Jail.

Finseth had his first appearance in court Feb. 13. The King County prosecuting attorney argued there was probable cause for felony harassment, second-degree identity theft and first-degree computer trespass. The judge concurred and ordered Finseth not to have contact with Sawant in any capacity and scheduled Finseth's next court appearance for Feb. 17.

Finseth was allegedly attempting to cause trouble for a fellow Fire Department employee with that he had a previous negative dealings with. According to a "statement of probable cause" filed with the King County Superior Court, Finseth admitted sending the emails from another firefighter’s account.

According to the court documents, Finseth told investigators "he did not have any intentions of harming Sawant," but was instead seeking to get his colleague "punished by the chain of command."

Investigators say the IP addresses associated with the multiple emails threatening Sawant were associated with Finseth’s residence and church. According to investigators, Finseth also sent emails from his co-workers’s account to make it appear that his colleague was seeking to be transferred. This led fire department employees to discovering that Finseth was tampering with the account.

The judge also ordered Finseth to have no contact with the fellow firefighter, including at work. Finseth was released on his own personal recognizance.

Sawant demanded the city take the threats seriously but did not actually report the threats to the Seattle Police Department. According to KTTH host Jason Rantz, SPD only learned about the emails after Sawant’s comments went public which triggered the investigation. Sawant has been the loudest advocate on the council for defunding the police in Seattle and used her key to City Hall to facilitate activists occupying the building this summer during Seattle's 'autonomous zone.' Sawant is currently facing a recall effort.