Federal prosecutors in Seattle have charged two men with rare criminal offenses related to a series of violent home invasions across Western Washington targeting Asian Americans in 2022. They said the charges are the result of a lengthy, multi-jurisdictional investigation that is ongoing.
The men, Kevin Thissel and Christopher Johnson, are accused of organizing and committing at least seven robberies. They each face one count of organized crime and one count of conspiracy. Both charges carry a maximum sentence of life in prison.
They are also accused of kidnapping and murder during robberies that spanned from South King to Snohomish and Skagit counties. The indictment also alleges they were part of a criminal organization that operated in “Washington, Arizona and elsewhere.”
U.S. Attorney Tessa Gorman said it was the first time in 17 years that her Western Washington district had used the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) to target an allegedly violent criminal organization. The previous case was against a Hells Angels motorcycle gang.
“Part of the power and impact of RICO is that it really deals with violent crimes committed by groups,” Gorman said.
Richard Collodi, the FBI special agent in charge of Seattle, said the gangs that carried out these robberies followed a similar modus operandi each time: wearing masks, carrying firearms and breaking into private homes in the middle of the night.
“Many of the actions of the defendants in this case were deliberately designed to instill fear,” he said. “They kidnapped several people, posed as police officers, disabled cameras and even detained children.”
Officials said the robberies specifically targeted Asian Americans because, according to the indictment, they “perceived Asian victims as ‘weaker.'”
The charges so far do not accuse the men of conspiring to commit civil rights violations or hate crimes. However, Gorman said, “We take civil rights violations extremely seriously, and if one of these meets the criteria, we would certainly bring it to justice.”
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Police officials said the actions of these gangs led to the death of 36-year-old Irah Marcelo Sok, who was shot in her bedroom during a robbery in Everett on July 19, 2022, while her 7-year-old child lay on the bed next to her.
Snohomish County Sheriff Susanna Johnson said, “The suspects then tied up (Sok’s) husband with zip ties, laid him on the ground and began searching the house.”
She called the investigation, which linked the robberies to similar incidents in Kent and elsewhere, “extraordinarily complex” and thanked one of her agency’s investigators, Kendra Conley, for facilitating the investigation into Sok’s death.
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Conley said she was focused on “keeping the case alive. We never let this case go to waste, we never let it fall apart, we just tried to find other cases that were similar.”
Snohomish County District Attorney Jason Cummings said his office also plans to file murder charges against the two men in Sok’s death.
One of the men, Christopher Johnson, appeared in federal court in Seattle on Thursday and pleaded not guilty. His trial is scheduled for October 21, 2024.
Both men were already in state custody on other charges. Johnson was serving a 90-month sentence in Snohomish County for domestic violence. Thissel was in custody in Pierce County awaiting trial on a first-degree assault charge stemming from another shooting, federal officials said.
