Mulkiteo Police Corporal Thomas Kuwana admitted to stealing nude pictures of his former partner’s sister without her consent, according to investigation documents DivestSPD obtained.
His ex discovered the images at the top of the “Recently Viewed” section of Kuwana’s photos folder in August of last year. She was searching through his phone for evidence that he had been cheating on her, but what she found was much worse.
Though her sister’s face was not visible, she recognized a tattoo of their family crest on her ribcage.
“It’s not how it looks. She did not send them to me,” he wrote to her after she confronted him over text. “I’m a piece of shit. I cracked her password and stole them.”
She said that Kuwana threatened to kill himself if she broke up with him. She waited to report the theft until this year because she continued living with Kuwana until June 2026, and the two have a child together.
The woman said he had angry outbursts that involved throwing things at her and had easy access to weapons as a law enforcement officer. Though she described her fear of Kuwana as “irrational,” she did not feel comfortable reporting him until she moved in with her current boyfriend.
Kuwana stole the images from her sister’s phone in 2024, while the three of them were living together. He was helping her set up a Roth IRA, and she gave him the phone’s passcode. Kuwana knew that she was in a long-distance relationship and suspected that she had nudes on her phone. When she wasn’t around, he found them in a hidden folder and AirDropped them onto his phone.
In an interview, Kuwana insisted that he used the images solely for “self-gratification.” He claimed he did not show them or sell them to anyone.
A Mulkiteo police internal investigation found there was probable cause that Kuwana committed two Class C felonies—voyeurism and computer trespass— and violated multiple department policies. Issued on Aug. 29, 2026, the report recommended termination, but it stated that they were awaiting a charging decision by the Snohomish County prosecutor’s office.
We will update this story when we have more information.
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