'I'll never quit:' A cop defied orders to stop contacting uninterested dispatcher
A Seattle police officer continued to contact a dispatcher after she filed a formal complaint against him and his captain ordered him to stop, an internal investigation found. The woman alleged that Officer Simone Minichiello made unwanted sexual advances on her during an outing last November.
Starting in October 2025, Minichiello and the dispatcher began exchanging messages over Instagram and text. Though these conversations started casually, Minichiello increasingly showed his attraction toward the woman, complimenting her appearance and “expressing his desire for more intimate encounters.”
The Office of Police Accountability notes that she “did not reciprocate [his] advances with equal excitement” but responded with “likes” and “flirtatious emojis.” Minichiello claimed to have an open marriage, whereas the dispatcher said that her husband was only okay with her having platonic friends. She told him she was loyal to her husband and was seeking a close male friend she could trust for advice and emotional support.
Eventually, on Nov. 10, she agreed to meet him after work. They went to a bar, where she said he tried to pressure her to drink, but she refused. Afterward, he took her to a secluded park and “proposed intimacy,” according to the report. Minichiello claimed that going to the park was her idea. Then he took her to a business's parking lot and raised the question again, she said. She suggested they play pool.
At the pool hall, he continued to pressure her to drink, she said. He put his hand behind her head and tried to pull her in for a kiss, but she pushed him away. After they finished the game, he drove her home and continued to come on to her for the entire ride, she said. Minichiello denied this.
The dispatcher texted Minichiello to discuss her feelings about the evening, clarifying her boundaries by saying that she didn’t want “anything outside of hugs and stuff.” Minichiello promised to “tone it down” but added that “he would never quit, even if she rejected him all night.”
Later, he sent her an Instagram reel captioned, “men will ruin ur life and then send you an ig reel.” She blocked him and filed a complaint. Minichiello’s captain ordered him not to contact her, but he texted her one more time after that to say he had “no hard feelings.”
The OPA did not find that Minichiello acted unprofessionally or violated the law. Explaining its decision, the OPA cited what it called “mixed signals” and the fact that she did not “clearly or consistently reject” his advances.
The OPA paraphrased Minichiello’s words: “She had never said, ‘Yes’ but never said, ‘No.’” Therefore, the OPA argued that Minichiello “could have reasonably inferred that some form of intimacy might have been permissible.”
Ultimately, the OPA sustained only insubordination allegations against Minichiello, and he was issued a written reprimand, the second-lowest form of discipline.
Hired in 2019, Simone Minichiello makes $159,036 base pay annually and reported $32,721 overtime in 2024, the last year for which we have complete records.
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