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RAVENSDALE—King County Fire District 47 Commissioner, homebuilder, and independent journalist, Steve Hickey, who has allegedly been squatting in a $1.4 million home in Ravensdale for two years without paying rent, according to the house’s current, and previous owners, has now taken an impromptu leave of absence as a fire commissioner after allegations surface of misusing municipal equipment for personal gain and abuse of power.

After a motion passed unanimously at the King County Fire District 47 meeting on Friday, May 24, for Fire Commissioner Tracy Styles “to partner with the chief to investigate the allegations,” Hickey, announced he will be “voluntarily leaving on an absence ‘til June 11.” He specified that the leave of absence is from “fire department duties” but refused to elaborate on his impromptu leave when questioned by the press as he walked out of the meeting.

BREAKING: Embattled King County Fire District 47 Commissioner Steve Hickey announced Friday evening that he's taking a leave of absence. Multiple sources tell me Hickey is accused of abusing his power on the job and using station equipment to grow his social media profile. pic.twitter.com/lF20gyc7Yb

— Jonathan Choe (@choeshow) May 25, 2024

Hickey also allegedly assisted Lynnwood City Councilman Josh Binda in making his Love Conquers All promotional video in December of 2022—a tour in which Binda profited at least $14,000. The promo video was shot in Council Chambers after hours. During this time Binda lent his city ID card to Hickey so that he could go in and out of the building unchaperoned. The two also forgot to set the alarm upon leaving, jeopardizing city resources and security.

The Lynnwood Times reached out to Hickey to ask if he was aware he and Binda were committing an ethics violation when filming the video (using an elected office position for self-gain) but Hickey did not respond. Councilman Josh Binda, on May 8, 2023, signed a settlement agreement admitting he violated the Lynnwood Municipal Code and offered an apology. 

Councilman Josh Binda, on May 23, 2024, offered his support to Hickey in a post to Instagram writing, “Keep going Steve! Proud of all the work you do and fair journalism.”

Lynnwood Councilman Binda’s post was in response to Hickey refuting claims that he swindled hundreds of thousands of dollars from dozens of people in real estate scams which is explored later in the article.

Hickey has been allegedly living in a $1.4 million Ravensdale home, rent free, refusing to leave, for the past two years, according to both Lee Strom, previous owner of the home, and Katrina Freitag, current owner of the home.

Strom told independent journalist Tyler Oliveira that Hickey failed to meet his contractual requirements two years into a five-year contract. According to Strom, Hickey’s squatting cost him roughly $150,000 in unpaid rent plus approximately $32 thousand in attorney fees.

Strom had no complaints about Hickey up until 2021, but in April of 2022, Hickey stopped making payments, he said. In October of 2021 Hickey attempted to renegotiate the deal but Strom said the two could never come to an agreement of terms.

In June of 2022, Hickey told the Stroms that he was going to purchase the property. The Stroms agreed, drafted paperwork for the deal, and even had a notary show up to their home in Arizona. Hickey signed the documents, but the money never transferred. According to Strom when he approached Hickey about the money he said: “I’m not going to pay you.”

Strom pursued arbitration to evict Hickey, which was mapped out in the contract agreement. The Stroms prevailed and Hickey was ordered to pay…but he ignored the court order.

“He really fooled us,” said Strom. “When he dropped off his first rent checks, he landed in a helicopter to do it with a film crew. It just really showed that we were right about this guy. That’s the con man.”

In the meantime, the Stroms sold the property to Katrina Freitag. Hickey’s five-year lease agreement was to be up at the end of September of 2023. When Freitag purchased the home, she issued a vacate notice authorized by King County Superior Court. Per that notice Hickey was ordered to move out within 90 days of the date of the issuance – but he refused.

BOMBSHELL ALLEGATIONS: King County Fire District Commissioner Steve Hickey is accused of squatting, fraud, and intimidation by a growing list of victims.
Complicating matters, he's a well known independent journalist with more than a million followers on TikTok and Instagram.… pic.twitter.com/Pk4yV1Q57L

— Jonathan Choe (@choeshow) May 22, 2024

Freitag has not received a single rent payment from Hickey since purchasing the home seven months ago, equating to roughly $50,000. This is separate to incurring roughly $40,000 in attorney fees as well as damages to the property. According to Freitag, Hickey has not maintained the property as well as he should have either. She would guess the damages would range between another $75,000 to $100,000.

Freitag purchased the home with the intention of raising her four young children there, but Hickey’s refusal to leave robbed her of that opportunity, she added.

Jessica Scotty and her husband Chris, alleged victims of real estate development theft they said perpetuated by Hickey, told Oliveira that Hickey backed out of the home the Scotty family are currently sitting in once he had “quite a bit of money that he could get his hands on from [their] bank loan money from Flagstar bank.”

“Basically, we were left in shambles with about $40,000 in lines, as well as about $90,000 in bank money that should have been provided, that he could not provide the proof of where that money went,” said Scotty. “I know multiple people that invest with him and some of them just want to move on with their life, he wrecks so much havoc in people’s lives; one of them said his wife was ready to divorce him and he had to pull out a whole equity line of credit to pay the guy off, to get him out of my life.”

The Scotty family first met Hickey in 2020 when they interviewed him as the potential builder of their home.

“Steve basically was approved and then we went through the process of basically allowing him our entire loan construction fund that was allotted to us to build this home,” said Scotty.

Scotty said she didn’t even think to vet Hickey seeing as he was a man of the community, sitting on the King County District 47 Fire Protection Agency as a commissioner.

“He had his whole schtick down, so we just proceeded,” said Scotty.

Every time the Scotty family received a bank wire, they transferred it over to Hickey for supplies, or the next phase of the construction project. The total amount in question, in which Hickey did not show receipts for where it went, totaled about $90,000.

“We said, ‘show us where the money went’ and he said no,” said Scotty.

Scotty said after that Hickey basically “skipped town” and communication went silent, adding that the stress of what Hickey put her family through almost hospitalized her husband – who has an auto-immune disease triggered by stress, and traumatized their children.

Hickey refuted the Scotty family’s claim that he had allegedly stolen money from them during a housing construction project. He said the project took place during the pandemic when the price of resources was skyrocketing.

“Every single payment she made was not only reviewed and signed off by her, but also it was for completed work, and reviewed by the bank, and the banks outside inspection company as she [Scotty] was using an earned equity construction loan,” said Hickey. “I went through a multi month process of being approved by her bank because she didn’t qualify for the bank, we were already preferred builder with.”

The bank provided the opportunity to continue the build by Scotty trimming appliance packages and other final finishes, Hickey continued, but Scotty said she deserved the finishes she wanted and wouldn’t pay the entire cost of materials herself.

Journalist Jonathan Choe requested that Hickey produce any documents or proof that he was able to stay on the property, but so far has not received any evidence. Hickey later gave the excuse that he would not produce documents that are currently being considered in court.

“His career was like on a rocket ship,” said Jonathan Choe. “Why would you risk everything that you’ve accomplished to allegedly squat in a house? To me that made no sense.”

Choe and fellow independent journalist Oliveira approached Hickey at his own garage sale, on the property he’s been allegedly squatting on, to get his side of the story.

There, Hickey explained that there has been an ongoing dispute, or a “real estate transaction gone bad.”

Hickey continued he gave the previous owner “hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash for rights to purchase the property” but he was then “blocked at every turn to execute those rights.”

Hickey is arguing that he is a “holdover tenant,” not a squatter. Per Washington State Law there is a difference between the two distinctions.

For example, if a homeowner were to go on vacation and someone was to break in and start living there, then refuse to leave, that’s a squatter. A holdover tenant, on the other hand, is someone who had a leased agreement but refused or stops making rent payments.

Hickey is arguing in court that the Stroms “breached contract” because they failed to perform. It was after this breach of contract, he said, when he stopped making payments.

The Housing Justice Project did get involved in the case and legally represented Hickey during the early stages of litigation, with representation by Edmund Witter, Managing Attorney. Now Hickey is being represented by Attorney Ben Ellison.

The Housing Justice Project was initially created to prevent homelessness during the pandemic and provide legal representation for low-income tenants facing eviction in King County. It has recently been facing criticism from King County Council member Reagan Dunn on misusing some of the $16 million of taxpayer funds it receives after paying $88,000 in back rent for a Bellevue man who makes $400,000 a year.

“Now it protects alleged white-collar squatters who refuse to pay rent in two million dollar-plus homes they’re renting, all at the cost of taxpayers working to survive paycheck to paycheck” said Oliveria. “What is the point of owning a home in Washington if the law will legally protect someone trying to steal it from you? And what is the point of a law that no longer represent what it means to be moral or ethical?”

When Oliveria asked Hickey if he had refused to pay rent, Hickey changed the subject to mention that the Stroms breached their contract. Hickey then refused to elaborate how the Stroms breached their contract when asked.

“I will continue to fight this through the court system as I have been doing, and I will continue to do so,” said Hickey.

Hickey also mentioned there has not been an eviction notice sent but there was, in fact, a 90-day eviction notice personally served to Hickey, signed by Freitag.

Officers working with the King County Sheriff’s Office responded to a trespassing call to remove journalists Jonathan Choe and Tyler Olivier but promptly looked up the title of the property, of which the owner is registered as Katrina Freitag. Officers told the two journalists Hickey has a legal right to be on the property until the court comes to a conclusion.

Choe and Oliveria collaborated on a social media video based on their research and interviews which was released on Wednesday, May 22.

One day later Hickey responded on his own social media on Instagram.

“I don’t know how your week has been, mine has been pretty rough,” Hickey begins his video continuing that he’s received hateful messages calling for him to end his life and his career.

Hickey explains in his video that the multi-year battle over the property stems from a “block and breach” of a binding contract and accuses property owner Katrina Freitag of recruiting Choe and Oliveria to break the story because the court proceedings have not been going in her favor.

Hickey then calls Jonathan Choe a journalist funded by “special interest groups,” who painted a narrative of squatting because it fit his narrative of covering squatting incidents in, and around King County.

Both Oliveria and Choe recently did, in fact, report on a Bellevue-based alleged squatter Sang Kim who’s been living in a $2 million home without paying rent. The Housing Justice Project has allegedly paid $88,000 of taxpayer’s dollars to make up for Kim’s unpaid rent

“These two journalists have tried to turn what is a real estate contract case into a squatter case because it fits the narrative of what they’ve been working on together, and because the local journalist [Choe] is also funded by groups who want to change squatter laws,” said Hickey.

Hickey continued in his video that property owner Freitag knew there was a dispute with the property but given the fact she could pay cash she didn’t have to worry about the fact a bank would not finance a disputed title. Hickey claimed she knew what she was doing but was blinded by an opportunity to make money.

“I’m committed to giving victims of violence, murder, assault, sexual assault, or molestation a voice, or a voice for those left behind,” said Hickey. “I will still continue to do this regardless of what forces try to silence me. I will continue to release more on this in the coming days, but I will not jeopardize my legal claims in doing so.”

Author: Kienan Briscoe