What Should You Do If A Washington State Agency Investigator Requests An Interview?

Are you a professional, such as a nurse, loan originator, mortgage broker or real estate broker? Are you also facing an investigation by the Department of Licensing, the Department of Health, or the Department of Financial Institutions? If so, you should be careful about speaking to the investigator.Departments routinely demand that a licensee submit to an in-person interview. Investigators will cite a statute that states that a licensee must cooperate in an investigation or risk losing their license. However, those rules usually require only that a licensee answer written questions. If you decline an in person interview, or insist that a recording be made (which the investigator will decline to do), they will state that your refusal will be passed on to the decision maker to determine if charges will be pressed.The problem with submitting to an in-person interview is that investigators will rely on their own memory regarding what you said. We have found that the memory of investigators can be different from our own. As you usually don’t have to submit to an in-person interview, it is best to decline but offer to answer written questions.Most professionals facing charges are in shock. They hope that by cooperating the charges will go away. That is not the case. Investigators are there to build a case. They are not your friends. The best advice is to seek the assistance of a qualified attorney who can, for a reasonable fee, help you through the process and give you the best chance of not having to go to a hearing to determine your professional future.