Second Arrest Made in Sexual Exploitation Investigation
Published on June 24, 2021
Contact: Public Information Officer
Tiffany Trombley
Kirkland Police Department
Email: ttrombley@kirklandwa.gov
425-587-3427
Case/Incident #2018-1261
Long term investigation leads to charges
Kirkland, WA – Today an outstanding suspect was taken into custody in a 2018 Kirkland sexual exploitation case. Kirkland Police collaborated with the FBI and the Malaysian Government in locating the second male suspect involved in this case.
On March 11, 2021, one of the two suspects, 34-year-old Thomas Edward Lee Anderson, was arrested and booked into King County Jail on several charges including sexual assault and promoting commercial sexual abuse of a minor.
Tips from community members lead to information on the whereabouts of the second suspect, identified as 37-year-old Scott Barry Uchida. Based on the investigation, he was believed to have left the country in 2019. Kirkland Investigators worked tirelessly with the FBI to locate and arrange for extradition back to the United States. He was booked into the King County Jail on charges that include sexual assault and promoting commercial sexual abuse of a minor.
This investigation started in 2018 after officers responded to a welfare check. The juvenile female victim recounted suffering from ongoing sexual abuse, psychological abuse, and threats at the hands of two adult male suspects at a Seattle apartment. During the ongoing investigation, detectives and a Kirkland Police Department school resource officer identified several teenage victims who had been victimized by the two males. They threatened to harm the victims and their family members as a way to exert control while they were repeatedly sexually assaulted and forced into sexual encounters with other males for a fee collected by the suspects. Although the assaults took place in other jurisdictions (Seattle and Puyallup), Kirkland detectives were tenacious in their efforts to solve this case. There was collaboration with several other law enforcement agencies, and the King County Prosecutors Office, to gather sufficient evidence to bring charges against the two suspects identified in this case.
The investigation revealed that the suspects had befriended one of the victims on a social media app and lured her to a Seattle apartment where she was sexually assaulted and forced to perform sex acts with male strangers. This was ongoing and included threatening harm to her and her family if she refused to persuade other underage females to contact the suspects. These additional young girls were similarly victimized. The in-depth investigation revealed that the two suspects were also involved in the kidnapping, assault, and attempted robbery of an adult male in Pacific, Washington.
These assaults occurred several years ago, but the victims recently came forward with additional information. Several of the victims worked cooperatively with law enforcement to assist in the prosecution and to hold the suspects accountable for their actions.
Note: This is an update to a March 19, 2021 news release.
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