The vacation rental owner who employed former Mayor Will Finn and his wife is accusing them of stealing around $20,000 — part of a closed Cowlitz County Sheriff’s Office investigation.
The sheriff’s office is suggesting the Finns be charged with first- and second-degree theft, but the Lewis County prosecutors have not brought charges as of Wednesday.
Finn also faces allegations that he deleted public records from a city-issued cell phone he used while serving as the mayor of Woodland from 2016 to 2023, in a separate Thurston County Sheriff’s Office investigation.
That sheriff’s office has also suggested Finn be charged — this time with the felony of destroying public records — but no charges were filed as of Wednesday in this case either. The Finns did not respond to calls by deadline.
Finn was placed on paid administrative leave with Washington State Patrol for his job as a public information officer as of March 11, according to WSP representatives.
Washington State Patrol spokesperson Chris Loftis said he does not have access to his WSP weapon, ID cards or badge, and is not permitted to wear his uniform or perform any duty-related work during the leave.
‘Worst kind of deceit’
Michann Bond, owner of short-term rentals called Third Street Villas in Woodland, accused both Will and Heather Finn of misusing a bank card that belonged to the business.
Bond said the couple had been managing her properties for four years.
She alleged the Finns made unauthorized purchases — including on groceries, dog food and restaurant bills — totaling around $20,000.
“There was like a hundred charges for restaurants,” she said.
Bond said she also loaned them another $20,000, but they haven’t paid back. She said she tried to settle up with them, but they refused.
Bond said the Finns were responsible for booking guests and obtaining supplies for her Airbnb rentals, for which they were paid a 20% commission on the booking charge.
She said she reported the alleged thefts to the Woodland Police Department around June, but the case was sent to the Cowlitz County Sheriff’s Office.
She said she trusted Will Finn because they had been friends for 10 years and he had a career in law enforcement.
“Boy, was I shocked,” said Bond. “The worst kind of deceit.”
Court records show Bond had not filed a civil suit against the Finns as of Wednesday.
Lewis County Prosecutor William Halstead said the Lewis County Prosecutor’s Office received a referral to review the alleged theft case at the end of March, but had no timeline on the decision whether or not to file charges.
This latest allegation is not the first time Will Finn has come under scrutiny for unauthorized personal expenses.
A 2024 report from the Office of the Washington State Auditor outlined ways the former mayor misused his city-issued credit card, though he was not charged with a crime for the transactions.
The report does not name Will Finn directly, but the audit timeframe overlaps with his tenure as mayor. The report states that the former mayor made $3,965 worth of personal purchases between March 2022 and November 2023, but the city had only recovered $3,385. The office recommended the city seek to recover the missing $580, but city officials said Wednesday they had not received the missing funds.
Alleged public records destruction
A Thurston County Sheriff’s Office report alleges Will Finn was investigated in 2024 for erasing the contents of his city-issued cell phone he used during his term as Woodland mayor. The contents of the phone are considered public record because he was using the device for city business as an elected official. The Cowlitz County Sheriff’s Office requested Thurston County take over the investigation in early 2024.
A deputy was assigned the case on Feb. 28, 2024, but due to other cases, the investigator first spoke with current Woodland Mayor Todd Dinehart on Aug. 27 and then Woodland City Clerk Amanda Hougan the next day.
The report states Hougan told authorities she attempted to fulfill a public records request that involved Will Finn’s work phone but discovered the device had been factory reset, and any data connected to the phone was gone.
Hougan said she asked the former mayor multiple times to install a computer program on his city-issued cell phone to collect the phone’s data, the report states, but she said he refused to do so until his last day in office, then he reset the device.
Woodland Public Assistant Lead Scott Summers also said in the report that Will Finn told him, “Ha ha, good luck getting anything off my phone, I did a factory reset.”
Will Finn said he did the same on an iPad, but Hougan told authorities she was unaware of that device, the report states.
According to the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office incident report, investigators were able to extract some data from the former mayor’s work phone, including six text chats; five incoming unanswered calls with no time stamps; and 13 voicemails from Aug. 7, 2023, to Jan. 19. Officials could not recover emails or photos, outside of thumbnails.
Will Finn admitted to a Thurston County deputy in September that he did a factory reset on his work phone and downloaded its data onto his personal computer because the Woodland mayoral election had gotten “heated,” and “nasty,” the report states. Finn said he didn’t trust Dinehart, and didn’t know what the city would do with the information on his phone.
Will Finn lost to Dinehart in 2023 when the former mayor received roughly 30% of the votes.
Will Finn told authorities he believed the data from his work phone was being saved by the IT department on the “back end.” However, the deputy noted in the report that if the IT department was saving the phone’s data, there would have been no reason to erase the contents.
Will Finn also gave authorities a USB drive that he said included his saved work phone’s data. However, the deputy writes that there is no way to confirm if all of his work phone’s data was transferred to the device.
