A federal grand jury in Seattle has indicted two men on charges of racketeering and conspiracy, alleging they operated a multistate home-invasion robbery and kidnapping ring that often targeted Asian people and was responsible for the shooting death of an Everett woman in 2022. The indictment names Kevin Thissel, 28, and Christopher Johnson, 23, as operating a criminal enterprise "engaged in, among other things, acts of violence, robbery, kidnapping, murder and burglary" in Washington, Arizona and elsewhere. The men are suspected in the Aug.
19, 2022, shooting death of 36-year-old Irah Marcelo Sok, who was killed in bed while lying next to her 7-year-old son and husband, according to Snohomish County Sheriff Susanna Johnson. Officials said three armed, masked men kicked down the bedroom door of the home at 3 a.m.
after breaking into the house. The men bound Sok's husband with zip ties and ransacked the house, taking a number of luxury items, officials said. Snohomish County Prosecutor Jason Cummings said he anticipates his office will file state homicide charges against the men "soon.
" Several other home-invasion robberies in Pierce, Skagit and Snohomish counties seemed similar to what happened in the Everett home, and that led detectives to eventually identify an organized effort. "The indictment alleges that in the summer of 2022, these men targeted certain families for robberies," said U.S.
Attorney Tessa Gorman. "To create a climate of fear, these men burst into their hom.