By JACINDA HOWARD, The Mirror

Exactly one year after former Federal Way police officer Henry James Holst was charged with fraud, he was sentenced Dec. 6, 2007, to two years imprisonment for his actions.

A Dec. 6, 2006, indictment charged Holst with five counts of bank fraud; two counts of bankruptcy fraud, including allegations of concealing personal property and failing to report several cashier’s checks; two counts of money laundering, including allegations of attempting to negotiate a $75,000 cashier’s check in an attempt to obtain other cashier’s checks; and tax evasion for failure to pay approximately $138,000 in payroll taxes from 2000 to 2002.

Holst pleaded guilty to bank fraud, bankruptcy fraud and evasion of payment of taxes on July 26, 2007. The crimes all occurred between October 2002 and June 2005, according to this month’s judgment. Holst was sentenced for these crimes on Dec. 6, but the remaining seven charges included in the indictment were dismissed, according to the judgment.

After completing his prison term, Holst will be subject to five years of supervision, reports said. The judge also ordered Holst to pay restitution, an amount to be determined, to Viking Bank of Seattle, which lent Holst $521,542 for a small business loan for his former company.

Holst originally began his employment with the City of Federal Way in March 2005. At the time, Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick knew Holst had operated a dump truck company named Holst Enterprises Inc. that closed in 2003, after the Sept. 11, 2001, events put a financial strain on the business.

But the department was unaware that Holst had been committing fraud.

A standard background check was performed on Holst prior to his employment with the Federal Way Police Department, but the check did not reveal anything of concern, current Police Chief Brian Wilson said in December 2006. This could be because the FBI was conducting an active investigation on Holst at the time, he said.

The department was later notified of this investigation and asked by the FBI to wait a few weeks before confronting Holst with its knowledge. The entry-level recruit was in field officer training at the time and was already scheduled to complete the training program.

Holst finished his training and served with the Federal Way Police Department for approximately eight months before he resigned from his position in early November 2005, after he was confronted about the FBI investigation.

Contact Jacinda Howard: jhoward@fedwaymirror.com