Porn found on Reardon aide’s computer, reports show

EVERETT — An aide to Snohomish County Executive Aaron Reardon, already on leave as the focus of a criminal investigation, is facing new troubles after dozens of sexually explicit photographs, including homemade porn, were found on a county-owned laptop computer he’d been using in 2011, The Herald has learned.

Kevin Hulten, 34, initially said he’d resign after the images were found in March, but he wanted to attach conditions on his departure, including some sort of monetary settlement.

After his supervisor, Deputy Executive Gary Haakenson, said there would be no deal, Hulten insisted he was being set up, for political reasons. He then asked the county council to investigate whether it was retaliation for making a “whistleblower” complaint about county prosecutors.

Nearly $35,000 later, two independent investigations by a Seattle attorney concluded that Hulten’s claims about retaliation are unfounded, and that his separate “whistleblower” complaint is equally baseless.

Reports on both investigations — one exploring the porn stash, the other detailing Hulten’s claims that county prosecutors are corrupt — were obtained by The Herald on Thursday under state public records laws.

The images on the county computer reportedly include nude photos of Hulten and a woman. They were found as part of a “>public records requests Hulten has admitted using the alias “Edmond Thomas.” He sought records about numerous county employees, including Reardon political rivals who cooperated with last year’s Washington State Patrol investigation of the executive.

Hulten has been on paid administrative leave since the criminal investigation began two months ago. Haakenson on Thursday declined any comment on the porn found on the computer. He said any investigation would be a personnel matter.

The report that “>hired to investigate at a rate of $250 an hour. The County Council was billed $19,125 and the executive’s office $15,825 to have the lawyer examine Hulten’s “whistleblower” claims.

In the “whistleblower” complaint, Hulten had alleged that officials in the county prosecutor’s office had engaged in a variety of misconduct involving Reardon’s investigation last year by the Washington State Patrol. He targeted most of his claims at Jason Cummings, the county’s chief civil deputy prosecutor, and Bob Lenz, the chief administrative deputy.

Sutherland wrote that her investigation of the “whistleblower” complaint found that Cummings and Lenz were “within the scope of their authority and consistent with carrying out the course of action” county officials had developed after a county social worker reported that she’d engaged in a years-long affair with Reardon and accompanied him on county business trips.

The investigation “did not reveal any improper governmental actions” by anyone in the prosecutor’s office, Sutherland wrote. That included a review of Hulten’s claim that county officials had been leaking information to reporters about the patrol investigation.

Prosecuting Attorney Mark Roe said he knew his office had behaved ethically in the difficult situation surrounding Reardon’s legal troubles.

“I couldn’t be less surprised,” he said of the findings on Thursday.

Hulten’s retaliation claim suggested prosecutors had again done wrong. He told Sutherland that it was inappropriate for Roe to suggest that an investigation was necessary to determine if laws were broken after The Herald detailed how Hulten and Reardon’s executive assistant, Jon Rudicil, were linked to harassing records requests, spoof email accounts and attack websites targeting Reardon adversaries.

Roe was among those targeted by Hulten’s records requests. So were Haakenson, Cummings and some County Council members and their staff.

The council requested the King County Sheriff’s Office investigation.

The council also took away Reardon’s control of the county’s computer system and his office’s responsibility for overseeing public records. The next day, Reardon announced he

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

Ariel Garcia, 4, was last seen Wednesday morning in an apartment in the 4800 block of Vesper Dr. (Photo provided by Everett Police)
A brief timeline of Ariel Garcia’s disappearance

The Everett boy, 4, went missing early Wednesday. The following evening, police announced they found the remains of a small child.

Everett
Everett man accused of supplying drugs in Whatcom County Jail overdoses

Angel Lewis Leffingwell, 38, pleaded not guilty to controlled substance homicide Friday in the Whatcom County Jail death.

Eleazar Cabrera (Washington State Department of Corrections)
Marysville man gets 29 years for Snohomish home invasion, shooting

A jury convicted Eleazar Cabrera of first-degree assault and first-degree robbery for shooting a resident in the back multiple times.

People wander around and photograph fields of tulips, daffodils and other flowers during the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival at RoozenGaarde in Mount Vernon, Washington, on Friday April 14, 2023. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
Color your day at the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival

The farms are in bloom this weekend. The festival, in its 41st year, runs through the month of April.

Ariel Garcia, 4, was last seen Wednesday morning in an apartment in the 4800 block of Vesper Dr. (Photo provided by Everett Police)
Days before Everett boy, 4, was found dead, grandma had won custody

After a massive search, Ariel Garcia’s body was discovered somewhere outside Everett on Thursday. His mother was arrested in Clark County.

Everett mall renderings from Brixton Capital. (Photo provided by the City of Everett)
Topgolf at the Everett Mall? Mayor’s hint still unconfirmed

After Cassie Franklin’s annual address, rumors circled about what “top” entertainment tenant could be landing at Everett Mall.

Everett
Everett man sentenced to 3 years of probation for mutilating animals

In 2022, neighbors reported Blayne Perez, 35, was shooting and torturing wildlife in north Everett.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.