Judge keeps $10K bail for Bellevue identity theft suspect

Name: Bellevue identity theft suspect pleads not guilty
Uploaded: 2026-02-24T19:28:18-08:00
Description: A convicted felon with 81 prior warrants for his arrest pleaded not guilty in court for two counts of identity theft in western Washington.

Bellevue identity theft suspect pleads not guilty

A convicted felon with 81 prior warrants for his arrest pleaded not guilty in court for two counts of identity theft in western Washington.

BELLEVUE, Wash. - John Hale pleaded not guilty in court today to two counts of second-degree identity theft. His attorney asked Judge Nelson Lee to release him on electronic home confinement, saying Hale has a three-year-old child and works as a self-employed car mechanic.

Prosecutors requested that his bail remain at $10,000.

"I'm denying the defense's request number one because of the 80+ warrants since 2009. He also has an extensive criminal history. While many of them are misdemeanors, they demonstrate his inability or unwillingness to comply with court orders including conditions of sentence, so I am going to order that bail remain at $10,000," said Judge Lee.

Bodycam video shows arrest of John Hale

Following the hearing, Bellevue Police filed a new case with prosecutors for burglary. Hale and Hugh Patrick Doherty are accused of entering a secure parking garage at The Charles Apartments, breaking into a victim's car, stealing his wallet, a book of collectors cards worth $7,000 and a sword.

Detectives recovered the victim's wallet inside Doherty's white BMW and the sword during a search of Doherty’s girlfriend's home in Cle Elum.

King County Sheriff's detectives are investigating both men after they were seen on camera breaking into vehicles in the Trilogy neighborhood. Detectives will forward the case to prosecutors for a charging decision.

Surveillance photos of Hugh Doherty

Doherty is free on bail.

Hale will be back in court tomorrow on the new charge. He remains locked up in the King County jail.

Detectives say he was identified via an anonymous tip from one of you to Crime Stoppers of Puget Sound. The tipster recognized the tattoo on his left hand and his eyes.

Hale was arrested on Feb. 16 in Duvall by King County Sheriff's deputies after he refused to get out of the car and tried to speed off. He got the car stuck while trying to escape. Deputies broke out the window and pulled him from the vehicle.