The former mayor of Woodland is facing multiple felony charges, including charges that he allegedly destroyed public records while leading his Southwest Washington community. Will Finn, who worked as a Washington State Patrol officer while he served as mayor, also faces identity theft-related charges linked to a separate incident.

Finn was arraigned Tuesday in Cowlitz County Superior Court. Most of the charges center around allegations that he and his wife Heather used a credit card belonging to his wife’s employer to make approximately $10,500 in personal charges between August 2021 and January 2024. At the time, Finn was a Washington State Patrol spokesperson.

He has been on paid administrative leave since the investigation began in March 2025, according to a current state patrol spokesperson.

Michann Bond, who had hired Heather Finn to manage Airbnb rentals, filed the complaint that launched the theft investigation.

Bond told police that either Heather or Will Finn used a company credit card for personal expenses, according to court records.

Will Finn allegedly used the credit card to pay for items from Costco, Walmart and Amazon as well as a trip to Mexico in 2021.

Superior court records state that even after they allegedly admitted to making the purchases, Bond said the Finns refused to reimburse her and later claimed she owed the couple money.

The dispute escalated in September 2024 when Will Finn reported to the Cowlitz County Sheriff’s Office that he and his wife were the victims of extortion by Bond, according to court records.

A separate charge focuses on the alleged destruction of public records when Finn was leaving his role as the mayor of Woodland. He served from 2016 to late 2023.

According to court records, Finn destroyed public records on his city cell1phone as he was leaving office by doing a factory reset of the device.

Finn allegedly told another city employee, “Ha ha, good luck getting anything off my phone, I did a factory reset,” according to court records from Cowlitz County Superior Court.

Those records state that Finn allegedly deleted the contents of his phone because he did not trust the new mayor with what was on the device.

Charging documents say Finn claims he backed up the phone on a USB drive that he gave to detectives, but “there is no way to verify if all of the data has been properly retained.”

The Lewis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office arraigned Finn on 15 charges, including first and second degree theft, second degree identity theft, malicious prosecution and injury to a public record.

Cowlitz County detectives investigated the theft charges. The public records charge was investigated by a detective in the Thurston County Sheriff’s office.

An initial hearing is scheduled for July 17 in Cowlitz County Superior Court.

This isn’t the first time Finn has been the subject of questions about improper spending. A 2024 audit from the Washington State Auditor’s Office found that the former mayor had used his city credit card to make $3,965 worth of purchases for personal use.

While those funds were mostly recovered by the city, $580 had not been returned at the time of the report, the auditor’s office found.

“The former mayor abused his position and used his credit card when working in official acts but not for a valid purpose,” the audit states.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2026/06/25/former-woodland-mayor-charged/