A Whatcom County Sheriff's Deputy has been charged with five criminal counts in court, including rape and fired from the department after two women came forward accusing him of sexual assault. The deputy, identified in court documents as 23-year-old Austin Case, was fresh out of the academy and in the middle of his 15-month probationary period. According to court documents, the first woman came forward alleging she met Case on Snapchat and at one point confessed to Case she had been arrested for DUI and was on probation. Case allegedly used that information against her – when he learned she had been at a bar (in violation of her probation) he ordered her to his house under threat of arrest. The woman told investigators she “felt trapped” and felt compelled to sleep with him for fear that if not “he could call the cops on her and that she would go to jail.” Read the full story here: https://www.king5.com/article/news/local/former-whatcom-county-deputy-faces-charges-of-rape-extortion-assault/281-f96ac608-b5ec-4052-9d9e-99780ac3e194