Colville newspaper editor charged with shoplifiting no longer listed on masthead

The Colville weekly newspaper editor charged with theft has been removed from the publication’s masthead, but the paper won’t say if he’s still employed.

Kevin Hulten, who had appeared in the pages of the Colville Statesman Examiner as a sports and contributing editor, was not listed in Wednesday’s edition. The paper’s advertising manager declined comment on Hulten’s employment status, and the company that owns the paper, Horizon Publications, has not responded to a request for comment.

Hulten, a former political operative in Snohomish County and one-time managing editor of the Lake Stevens, Washington, Journal, was charged last week by the Stevens County prosecutors with three counts of misdemeanor theft stemming from a series of alleged shoplifts in March.

Hulten had previously been fined by the Washington Public Disclosure Commission for campaign activities while employed in Snohomish County and pleaded guilty to charges of evidence tampering before joining the Colville newspaper.