Ex-WA medical worker charged in abortion-pill case can remove ankle monitor
A former nurse practitioner accused of forcing abortion pills inside his girlfriend and violating his restraining order last year has been allowed to remove his electronic home-monitoring device so he can start a business.
David Coots, 43 of Gig Harbor, is charged with third-degree rape, second-degree assault, tampering with a witness and five counts of violation of a court order. Coots was a nurse practitioner at MultiCare Gig Harbor Medical Park until his license was suspended in April 2024 by the state Board of Nursing, The News Tribune reported.
Coots obtained an esthetician license by the Department of Licensing on April 11, 2025. Court documents show his business would help people with “cystic acne, scars, alopecia, rosacea and hyperpigmentation.”
DOL spokesperson Christine Anthony told The New Tribune this month: “State law doesn’t require a criminal background check for cosmetology licenses, but the application asks a person to attest or self-report if they have been convicted of a crime and he checked no. Now that we know the serious nature of the charges against him, his esthetician license is under review.”
Coots has been out of custody after posting $500,000 bail and was placed on an electronic home-monitoring device, court records show.
Background on the case
Coots was arrested on March 11 for allegedly prescribing misoprostol pills to himself and slipping them inside his pregnant girlfriend without her knowing during sex, which allegedly caused the woman to have a miscarriage.
The woman was Coots’ patient, and they developed an intimate relationship, court records show. Coots was also, and remains, married to Melissa Coots, who was charged for witness tampering in the case.
Melissa Coots pleaded guilty in June 2024 to attempted witness tampering for trying to pay off the girlfriend so she would not go to the authorities. She will face no jail time, The News Tribune reported last year. A two-year deferred sentence was imposed, meaning Melissa Coots has to maintain law-abiding behavior before the charge can be dismissed.
A restraining order against David Coots was served in February 2024. The woman said Coots allegedly emailed her about five times, according to prosecutors. Coots allegedly violated the protection order again on March 11 when he showed up at the woman’s brother’s home with flowers, a letter and his copy of a key to her home, documents show.
Detectives also found a cut key acquired in March at Coots’ home from Home Depot that allegedly unlocked a doorknob previously installed at the woman’s residence, prosecutors wrote in charging documents.
The woman wrote in previous victim-impact statements to the court that Coots allegedly said in a letter he wanted to see her in person. He allegedly wanted to have another baby with her as well.
‘Terrifying’
Coots’ defense filed a motion on May 6 requesting the court lift the electronic home-monitoring device that was put in place after he posted bail in March 2024.
His attorney, Dawn Farina, argued that Coots complied with the electronic home-monitoring device and said he should be let off it so he could start his business to support his family, which includes five children. She also alleged that the woman was not pregnant as there were “several inconsistencies” in her story.
Coots appeared in Pierce County Superior Court on May 7 for his bail hearing. Before Judge Stanley Rumbaugh made his decision, he heard from the woman, Farina and deputy prosecuting attorney Sarah Park.
Farina said the defense hired a board-certified doctor in obstetrics and gynecology who reviewed the case and made her conclusion that the woman was not pregnant, so Coots could not have made her miscarry through the pills.
Documents show the doctor made her conclusion based from the date of the woman’s last period, her self-reported positive pregnancy tests and the “timing of the alleged misoprostol.”
The alleged victim told Rumbaugh the ankle monitor has given her peace of mind as the case also has affected her 9-year-old daughter. The woman said she would like Coots to stay on the ankle monitor until a decision has been made during trial.
“I don’t know how to explain how terrifying it is,” she said.
The woman also said if Coots is taken off the ankle monitor, she and her daughter would leave the state.
“That’s how afraid I am of him coming to my house,” she said.
Park argued against Coots being completely off the device and questioned if Coots is only following the no-contact order because he is on the ankle monitor. She said that if the monitor is taken off, there is no way of knowing if Coots is coming in direct contact with the woman or allegedly witness tampering again.
Farina disagreed with the statements made by prosecutors and the woman, calling them “dramatic.” She said that Coots has no desire to contact the woman as he just wants to be with his family and create his business.
After Rumbaugh made his decision, Coots appeared to be in tears.
Coots can remove the ankle monitor on May 14, but he is still not allowed to contact the woman, according to the county clerk’s minutes. His next hearing is tentatively scheduled for June 6.
This story was originally published May 7, 2025 at 1:38 PM.
