After weeks of interviews and research, an investigator with Summit Law Group determined last Friday forgery allegations against Chief of Staff Brian Wilson and city staff are unfounded.

In an Oct. 21 letter to Federal Way Mayor Jim Ferrell, Summit Law Group investigator Alexander Baehr wrote that former community development director Michael Morales’ Sept. 12 complaint, which charged that his signature was forged on a city document last year, should be rejected. Morales was Federal Way’s community development director from March 2015 to April 2016.

“After a careful evaluation, we find that there is no unbiased support for the allegations contained in the complaint,” Baehr wrote, noting later in the letter that his firm retained experts in forensic handwriting, electronic discovery and information to perform their investigation.

They also report having obtained the original letter – a letter Wilson claims he saw Morales sign.

“This report and the results of the investigation fully exonerate my Chief of Staff Brian Wilson,” Ferrell said. “The report speaks for itself and should put this entire issue to rest.”

Wilson declined to comment.

The investigation began after Morales alleged his signature was forged on an Oct. 12, 2015, letter titled, “Re: Zoning for Weyerhaeuser’s Corporate Campus Property.” It was addressed to Jim Reinhardsen with Heartland, the real estate firm Weyerhaeuser hired to sell the 425-acre property now owned by Industrial Realty Group.

The letter explained that, because of a 1994 Concomitant Pre-Annexation Zoning Agreement between Weyerhaeuser and the city, the unique zoning laws outlined in the agreement are still “binding and in full force and effect.”

In his investigation, Baehr wrote that the idea for the letter surfaced as a way to provide the city’s interpretation of the property’s zoning because there were many potential buyers at the time and its zoning, “Corporate Park 1,” was a regular topic.

While he later admits city staff did not draft the letter – metadata shows a Heartland employee did – Baehr said that “there is nothing particularly suspicious surrounding the metadata.

“In fact, the metadata appears to corroborate Mr. Wilson’s recounting of events surrounding his receipt and work on the letter,” Baehr wrote.

Baehr interviewed Wilson, Morales, Tom Messmer with Industrial Realty Group, and Doug Larson and Reinhardsen, both with Heartland.

According to the investigator, Wilson said he’d be happy to approve a letter that outlined the city’s interpretation of zoning for the property, “but that Heartland should prepare it as Heartland was in direct communication with buyers (and therefore knew their needs in this regard) whereas the city had no such knowledge.”

There also appeared to be a high amount of secrecy regarding the potential buyer. Because of this, and to “learn more about the potential buyer,” Wilson told Heartland to send their draft of the letter to his personal email account. Information on Industrial Realty Group was included in that email.

Heartland and Wilson went back and forth on the letter’s draft – even providing contents of the letter to Morales, which he denies – before Wilson printed it on his home computer. Wilson told investigators he witnessed Morales sign the letter on Oct. 12, 2015.

That same day, they had a meeting with representatives from Heartland, Weyerhaeuser and Messmer. Both Messmer and Larson told the investigator Morales handed the letter to Messmer before going over the contents of it.

“At no time during (or before) this meeting did Mr. Morales object to the fact that his signature appeared on the letter,” Baehr wrote.

After the meeting, Wilson emailed the scanned copy of the letter to Ferrell and copied Morales. However, Morales maintains he doesn’t recall receiving that email.

After the purported signing, Morales was terminated for driving with a suspended license. Baehr wrote in his investigation that city staff said Morales made it “clear he would seek revenge for his termination” during a meeting with Wilson and other city staff.

“Other than Mr. Morales’ Sept. 12 complaint, over four months after his termination and close to a year following the issuance of the letter, there is no unbiased or direct evidence that the signature is a forgery,” Baehr wrote. “Mr. Morales had several opportunities to make the claim he now presents.”

Because of the time lag, Baehr said Morales’ credibility is “greatly diminished.”

Upon locating the original letter from an attorney retained by Industrial Realty Group, the investigator reported the letter’s signature block and signature have no pixelation. According to Baehr, “the signature has the look and feel of an ink signature as opposed to an image.”

The report further states a handwriting analyst determined the signature was Morales’ after comparing it “numerous” other Morales-signed documents.

While Morales claimed he always signed documents with his middle initial, “A,” and even directed his staff to put that in the text under signature spaces, Baehr said the inked signature included the initial and the text did not “because it was drafted by Heartland.”

Morales said in an interview he is “not really surprised” by the outcome of the investigation given the “limited and focused scope” of the investigation, the witnesses interviewed and the holes in his own interview with Baehr, stating there were things, such as his termination, that Baehr didn’t ask him about.

“I do disagree with the characterization of vowing revenge at my termination,” Morales said. “Telling someone to think long and hard about what they are doing, no matter how colorful the language, is not a vow for revenge.

“Ultimately, I am glad that at least the citizens of Federal Way, including me, can see the lengths to which the administration will go to keep information from the council and the public. This is what the process of this letter demonstrates.”