LYNNWOOD—Lynnwood City Council’s newest member, Derica Escamilla, cleared the air about some recent allegations regarding some of her close family and friends’ criminal histories.
In early November, an anonymous letter was sent to the Lynnwood City Attorney’s Office, Lynnwood Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, Lynnwood Municipal Court Judge Valerie Boufflou, Lynnwood Police Chief Cole Langdon, Lynnwood Mayor Christine Frizzell, the Lynnwood City Council and the Alderwood Boys & Girls Club, early November which alleged that Councilwoman Escamilla assisted in hiding her “husband,” a Duaine G. Belgarde Jr., from officers who were attempting to arrest him on a felony warrant.
According to Snohomish County records, Escamilla does not have a marriage license in Snohomish County nor in Hidalgo County, Texas, where she resided before relocating to Washington in 2005.
Escamilla was once in a relationship with Belgarde Jr., who is also the father of her son, but the two have been estranged for at least eight years after his substance abuse, and other issues, led to their breakup; the two never married.
Belgarde Jr. does occasionally visit with his and Escamilla’s child at Escamilla’s Lynnwood residence but, according to Escamilla, does not live there and has not for nearly a decade.
Police reports obtained by the Lynnwood Times list Belgarde Jr.’s address as Escamilla’s house, however, and officers wrote in a statement that they verified this is an up-to-date address.
“When he has a phone, and he’s around, he’s still their dad,” said Escamilla. “He’s never been an absent father, or a loser dad, or anything like that.”
Duaine G. Belgarde Jr. was arrested earlier this year with seven charges, two of which he served 90 days in jail at the Snohomish County Jail—one for possession/selling of a dangerous weapon and another for obstructing a law enforcement officer, both gross misdemeanors.
The other charges, which he has not served time for, include refusing to comply with a police officer (misdemeanor), two counts of driving with a suspended license (misdemeanor), making false/misleading statements to a public servant (misdemeanor), and unlawful possession of a firearm (felony).
He was arrested for these charges at Escamilla’s house on May 12, 2024, while visiting his son for Mother’s Day. After having a family barbecue Escamilla hopped in the shower in preparation to visit her boyfriend’s house but was interrupted by her son telling her that the house was surrounded by police.
“I knew that he had a warrant because I asked him about it a couple of weeks prior. I told him to turn himself in but he said the last time he was in jail they nearly let him die from withdrawal, so he was scared to death and there had been one or two deaths at the Everett jail in that time,” said Escamilla.
According to Escamilla, several police officers, with drawn rifles, surrounded her house shouting for Belgarde to come out. She said her son and mother were inside crying and she refused to let the police inside, scared to have their weapons so close to her family.
One of the claims the letter sent last month makes is that Escamilla obstructed officers and assisted in hiding Belgarde. According to Escamilla, she never got in the way of the officers, only requested to see their warrant, requested a de-escalation team, and urged them not to have their weapons close to her children.
“I think that incident could have gone way differently if someone had been mentally unstable or moved the wrong way,” said Escamilla. “I was scared out of mind, I just wanted to see a warrant. He [Belgarde] wasn’t a fugitive, he wasn’t actively committing a crime, he just had a bench warrant because he was trying to get clean…But I love my city, and I don’t want to paint these cops in a bad light because of what happened.”
Escamilla shared that she last heard that Belgarde Jr. was homeless and staying with a friend in Mountlake Terrace while trying to get clean. According to Escamilla, Belgarde Jr. goes periods without a cell phone and is somewhat elusive.
The letter also alleged that Councilwoman Escamilla’s brother Josh is a known drug dealer and active gang member with the Norteños gang, and is known to do illegal, dangerous drugs, while in her home.
According to the United States Department of Justice, the Norteños gang are a group of Latino street gangs with origins in northern California (north of Bakersfield). Members were initially part of the CA prison gang, Mexican Mafia, but later formed their own group when they were not protected or treated fairly in prison.
Escamilla denied that her brother is living with her or that he has ever committed any crimes while in her household, adding that he did live with her temporarily but an “incident happened” and she kicked him out; an incident involving him getting arrested for using a stolen credit card, a charge that has since been dropped.
According to Escamilla, her brother told her that he was purchasing a lottery ticket at a Fred Meyer when his friend passed him a credit card to use, security camera footage corroborated this resulting in the charges being dropped. He claims that he did not realize that it was stolen at the time and just assumed that it was his friend’s card.
While Escamilla’s brother does have a checkered past, he abandoned that lifestyle around the time of having his daughter, Escamilla said. Although recently, just last summer, he began hanging out with a group she referred to as “troublemakers.” Still, Escamilla denied her brother has any association with the Norteńos gang.
He did, she explained, hang around some known Norteńos members when living in Eastern Washington and was put on a registered gang member list with local law enforcement there. Still, to her knowledge, he has not been affiliated with anyone in the gang since moving to western Washington.
Lastly, the letter alleges that a convicted felon, a Lethel C. Torrence, who was arrested for strong-armed robberies of homeless people, possession of stolen firearms, attempt to elude, dangerous drugs, among other crimes, was seen driving Escamilla’s white Ford F-150 truck.
“I’ve seen him, I know of him, but I never lent him my truck,” said Escamilla. “I know of the name, and this is one of those guys my brother had just met I call ‘bad kids’ but I don’t know that guy and I definitely did not give him permission to drive my truck…I’m not trying to associate with any criminals but I also am not scared of shying away from them and figuring out why they are who they are. I’ve walked into homeless camps, I can’t tell you how many times, just to talk to them and figure out how they got there. That’s just who I am.”
According to Escamilla, the Ford F-150 truck belongs to her estranged ex-boyfriend Belgarde but is still under both of their names, having purchased the vehicle while together. When asked why she hasn’t taken her name off of the registration she said because Belgarde needs to be present in order to do so, he’s nearly impossible to get in contact with, and it’s an expensive process. Having been unemployed for six months while getting her foot in the door in the engineering sector, it was just another expense to worry about.
Two separate meetings were held with Councilwoman Escamilla on these allegations, one with Lynnwood Mayor Christine Frizzell and Council President George Hurst, and another with Lynnwood Police Chief Cole Langdon.
Escamilla said during these meetings she was able to tell her side of the story and squash some of the falsities and misleading information.
The Lynnwood Times reached out to Mayor Frizzell and Council President Hurst for comment on how these meetings went but both declined to do so.
“I’m clean as a whistle but I have family that has some things. Did I think about this before throwing my name in the hat? Yes, I did; but I knew that I could answer to it and it wasn’t anything that I did and I deserve to be in this role,” said Escamilla. “I haven’t done anything to anyone and I’m not sure why I’m being attacked.”
The Lynnwood Times reached out to the Lynnwood Police Department, and Police Chief Cole Langdon, for comment multiple times but did not receive a response.
Councilwoman Escamilla official statement
Councilwoman Escamilla authored the following official statement to the Lynnwood Times, to be addressed to members of the public.
“I am writing to address recent allegations circulating regarding my family’s past and their purported involvement in criminal affairs. These claims, which are being used as part of a smear campaign against me, are both misleading and baseless and quite frankly mostly untrue and unfair to them and their privacy.
“First and foremost, I want to make it unequivocally clear that I have no involvement in or connection to any alleged criminal activities. I am an individual with my own values, actions, and accomplishments, entirely separate from the choices or histories of any other person.“
“It is deeply concerning that such allegations, which are not supported by evidence or relevance to my own life, are being used to question my character or decision-making ability. This tactic not only disrespects my integrity but also distracts from the important work I am committed to doing.“
“I firmly believe in transparency and accountability, and I am willing to cooperate fully with any legitimate inquiry to clarify the facts. However, I will not engage with or validate attempts to smear my reputation with baseless accusations and invasion of my family’s privacy nor will I condone harassment.“
“I appreciate the support of those who continue to focus on my actions and achievements rather than smear tactics. Let us remain focused on what truly matters and not be swayed by attempts to derail progress through personal attacks.“
Sincerely,
“Councilwoman Escamilla”
Author: Kienan Briscoe
12 Responses
Something stinks here. How was she elected and by whom. Was any of this info known at the time of election. She is one of the counsel members who voted for the recent large increase in our property taxes.
Hello Kienan, this is Kevin Hamel, 206-660-5841 I have Very Important Information regarding this house as I had checks stolen likely by Josh but can’t prove it. Both Dwaine and a Jonathan Williams tried to cash forged stolen checks.for some reason the snohomish county deputy that investigated the Jonathan williams incident (wsecu in Everett Oct 10)wont investigate the attempt by dwaine at money tree in Lynnwood .occurring Oct 11. It was esmireldas car used I am willing to meet with you to share the evidence I have a pic of car used. Sincerely Kevin Hamel local 341 president
You have a President elect of the U.S. as a convicted 34 count felon & a convicted Sexual Assaulter and yr worried about a Councilwoman who has shady associates??? Get a friggin clue. Someone is trying to racially profile her is all.
All charges against our PRESIDENT WERE POLITICALLY MOTIVATED OF WHICH HE IS NOT GUILTY OF, IT HAS NOTHING TO FO WITH THIS WOMANS CRIMINAL ASSOCIATES
Sounds like you suffer from obvious TDS. Going to be a bad day when all j6th prisoners are released and records expunged. Boo hoo crybaby.
I have met councilwoman Derica Escimilla. She is nothing but an outstanding member of this city. Her love for the people and the city of Lynnwood is outstanding. I couldn’t think of anyone better for the job.
Yes, possible you are correct . However regardless if she engaged in, colluded with these supposed violators? She Has a POOR choice in who she associates with and in case you haven’t noticed ppl are pretty tired of a thing goes Criminal apathy attitude with blatant law breakers. 2 sides to every Democrat. Those they like to accuse of being a Felon, and those they hang out with, call family, friends yet turn a blind eye to open criminal behavior. Get a clue. Obviously you don’t see the problem with her association to this…
Regardless what the outcomes was , she shouldn’t be allowed as member of council . She still connected to families members.
Omg..that’s the reason we have so many problems in our world people getting along with others. Everyone has one life to live and everyone is not the same if we were we would be in a one way ruler world you have to be a saint to have love from another person . No one is perfect …we all sin one way or another .it takes every kind of people to make the world go around…stay in the counsel your the real one on board.
So if someone in your family has a risky history and you are trying to succeed in life, you should be punished??? She has not been convicted of any wrong doing and looks to be serving her city well. There’s no validity to your statement.
I have found Derica Escamilla to be one of the most qualified people on the Lynnwood City Council having worked directly with the community for years as a Basketball Coach with the Boys and Girls Club and serving on three city committees. I appreciate her straightforwardness in her discussions about issues facing Lynnwood and this is very refreshing given the history of council members. She is always available to her constituents and I appreciate her attendance at Lynnwood Pride.
I appreciate Derica Escamilla and know that the city council did a thorough review of her background before appointing her as a fellow council member over the dozens of other applicants. And it is for this reason and her real life experiences and impressive strength as a parent that I now have even more confidence in her as city council member to handle issues and represent the community and families.
I have to question the “anonymous” writer and the motives for doing so along with this newspaper for printing and furthering this information as it appears this person is trying to character assassinate and disparage a city council member.
Will this person and newspaper acknowledge and print all of Derica Escamilla’s years of accomplishments as a Coach, Board Member, Parent and Community Advocate? I will be watching.