McBride says deputy set up ‘honey trap’
PULLMAN – A state appellate court has affirmed the conviction of a local man arrested after a January 2022 social media sting intended to catch drug dealers.
On Aug. 17, the state Court of Appeals Division III filed an unpublished opinion affirming the arrest and conviction of William Patrick McBride, 59, of Malden.
McBride was convicted of possession of a controlled substance (methamphetamine) with intent to deliver after communicating with a fictious person on social media, court records show. He was sentenced to 90 months in prison.
He appealed the jury conviction, alleging he had been entrapped by Whitman County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Michael Jordan, whom he said set up a “honey trap.”
“Mr. McBride contends he should ahve been acquitted on the basis of his defense of entrapment and, for the first time on appeal, that the conduct of law enforcement was outrageous, in violation of his right to due process,” the appellate court filing said. “He fails to make the required showings...”
Court records show Jordan set up a fictious Facebook account under the name “Pauline Niner.” The account was intended to snare drug dealers in the county.
He set up the account after law enforcement training on how drug dealers had turned to social media to find buyers, record show.
During a three-week period in January 2022, McBride unknowingly communicated with the deputy in an effort to solicit the sale of methamphetamine, records show. The two were supposed to meet Feb. 9, 10 and 15 of that year, but McBride claimed he had issues with his vehicle, suppliers and cash flow.
On Feb. 16, 2022, another communication shows he had a “little bit,” records show. When he arrived to sell the contraband at “Pauline’s” address, Sgt. Jordan was there to arrest him.
During the arrest, Jordan found methamphetamine in McBridge’s left front pocket and a broken pipe in his sweatshirt pocket, records shwo.
In his appeal, McBride said he had intended to “share” the methamphetamine, not sell it. He argued it did not meet the definition of “delivery” under state law.
The court rejected the argument, as well as McBride’s entrapment allegation.
In its ruling, the appellate court found McBride was “predisposed” to sell the contraband. It also found that the defendant failed to prove he was “tricked or induced into comming the crime by acts of trickery by law enforcement agents,” as required by state law.
The court noted in its ruling that the Washington State Patrol regularly uses fake social media accounts to catch child sex offenders and that case law allows it because its a “normal amount of persuastion” not trickery.
In the ruling, the court determined “Pauline” did not assist in setting up the drug deal, nor did McBride ever express reluctance to deliver the methamphetamine.
“At most, Mr. McBride can point to only the fact that he was arrested in a law enforcement sting operation, in which he failed to prove entrapment,” the ruling said.
In other aspects of his appeal, McBride claimed the jury didn’t receive proper instruction on entrapment. He also claimed there was an evidentiary error, prosecutorial misconduct and a pretextual arrest – he had been stopped in Pullman just prior to his arrest for having a taillight out.
The court dismissed most of those allegations, but withheld judgment on a possible pretextual arrest because not information was in the record, the ruling said.
McBride is well known to law enforcement in Spokane and Whitman Counties; state court records show he has been a defendant in more than 20 cases in the two counties..
Roger Harnack is the owner/publisher of Free Press Publishing. Having grown up Benton City, Roger is an award-winning journalist, columnist, photographer, editor and publisher. He's one of only two editorial/commentary writers from Washington state to ever receive the international Golden Quill. Roger is dedicated to the preservation of local media, and the voice it retains for Eastern Washington.
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