Prosecutor's aide accused in sex case took $72,000 in campaign funds

So much for the integrity of the King County Prosecutor's Office; and Mike McKay is in NO WAY related to Robert S. McKay!!

This story was published December 8, 2006 in the Seattle Times. By Natalie Singer

Larry Corrigan, the former financial director of the King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office who has been charged with allegedly trying to have sex with a teenager, embezzled $72,000 of campaign funds from Prosecutor Norm Maleng, Maleng's campaign committee has announced.

In a letter sent Thursday to Snohomish County Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Joan Cavagnaro, who is heading up the sex case, campaign treasurer Mike McKay said Corrigan misappropriated the money from May 2004 until early 2005 and returned about $10,000 of it to the campaign fund in January 2006. Corrigan, who maintained bookkeeping duties for Maleng's campaign, sent $67,503.19 back to the campaign trust on Monday, McKay said.

Corrigan's attorney, John Wolfe, confirmed this afternoon that Corrigan admitted to misappropriating the campaign funds.

The campaign committee has retained a forensic accountant to audit the campaign's financial records. Cavagnaro said she is "standing by ready to assist" with any potential criminal charges against Corrigan, but that the matter must first be investigated by a law enforcement agency. Which agency will depend on where the alleged embezzlement took place, she said.

Maleng and his wife were "shocked and saddened" by the alleged misappropriation, said King County prosecutor spokesman Dan Donohoe.

In addition to his role with Maleng's campaign committee, Corrigan was also active in the election campaigns of numerous local officials including U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert, former City Attorney Mark Sidran and judges Mary Yu, Bobbe Bridge and Faith Ireland. He was the King County prosecutor's director of operations and budget for 25 years, until last year.

Seattle police have said Corrigan used two America Online screen names to chat with an undercover officer in the Internet Crimes Against Children Unit who was posing as a 13-year-old girl. Police said Corrigan asked the girl to meet him and perform a particular sex act and bragged that he'd had sex with another teen.

Police also allege that Corrigan sent the fictitious girl pornography and arranged to meet her at a video store on Capitol Hill Wednesday, where police arrested him.