Drug investigators sue county, saying they were unfairly sullied for political reasons
Nine former members of an embattled Pierce County sheriff’s drug unit have filed a lawsuit claiming department administrators targeted them to influence the November election and publicly tarnished their reputations.
The 135-page lawsuit was filed Friday (July 23) in Thurston County by the unit’s attorney, Joan Mell. It followed on the heels of nine $1.5 million claims filed in September on behalf of Lt. Cynthia Fajardo, Sgt. Chris Adamson, detectives Darrin Rayner, Ryan Olivarez, Elizabeth Reigle and Shaun Darby, and deputies Jason Bray, Lucas Cole and James Maas.
They are seeking unspecified damages.
The sheriff’s Special Investigation Unit was disbanded in April 2020 amid concerns that some members had violated various policies and procedures, including writing fake police reports and conducting improper searches.
An internal review done by investigators from the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office found five SIU members might have violated 45 policies. The Clark County Sheriff’s Office reviewed the investigation, determined there were only seven minor violations and concluded most problems stemmed from a contentious relationship between SIU members and prosecutors.
The Pierce County Sheriff’s Department has not made a final ruling on the investigation or review and has not publicly disclosed whether any former members of SIU were disciplined.
Former Sheriff Paul Pastor and Undersheriff Brent Bomkamp “abused the power of their office” to shut down the drug unit “on false pretenses of corruption and wrongdoing that proved baseless” because they did not support Fajardo in her candidacy for sheriff, according to the suit.
“They instigated multiple unfounded investigations, targeted plaintiffs with heightened scrutiny, and published disparaging unwarranted criticisms during the Sheriff’s election cycle to influence the election, and to deter plaintiffs and others similarly situated from exercising their protected rights,” the suit reads.
Officials from the Sheriff’s Department and Prosecutor’s Office declined to comment because it is pending litigation.
Fajardo, who filed in May 2020 to run for sheriff, lost the November election to Sheriff Ed Troyer.
Named in the lawsuit are Pastor, Bomkamp and deputy prosecutors James Schacht and Fred Wist.
Prosecuting Attorney Mary Robnett, former sheriff’s chief of staff Mike Blair and prosecutor’s investigator Keith Barnes were named in the claims but not the lawsuit.
Impeachment list
A main sticking point during the investigation and in the lawsuit is the placement of 10 SIU members on the prosecutors’ “potential impeachment recurring witness list,” which means information that calls into question their credibility must be turned over to defense attorneys.
It also must be disclosed to any potential employers.
Adamson, Bray, Cole, Darby, Fajardo, Maas, Olivarez, Rayner and Reigle were placed on the list last year. So was Sgt. Tommie Nicodemus, who was in SIU but is not involved in the lawsuit.
Prosecutors in October removed Maas and Cole from the list. They did the same with Rayner in November.
“DPA Schacht has kept the remaining plaintiffs on the list and has refused their requests that he take them off the list,” Mell wrote in the lawsuit.
Most of the SIU members were not found to have violated policies, according to Clark County’s review. Only Adamson, Darby, Fajardo and Nicodemus were found to have violated department policies.
Keeping the SIU members on the PIE list prevents them from finding other jobs, tarnishes their reputations and is affecting their ability to do their current investigative work, the lawsuit says. In one case, Reigle was allegedly stopped from writing a search warrant for a location where a homicide suspect was hiding because her credibility was questioned due to being on the list.
Being targeted with investigations meant SIU members were given “undesirable work” that prevented them from advancing their careers, cost them overtime, caused them to be ostracized by their peers and harassed at work and lost Fajardo votes in the sheriff election, according to the lawsuit.
Troyer and his administration not closing the investigation is also “leaving the taint of the possibility of wrongdoing findings in the future against plaintiffs,” it reads.
The drug unit was revamped and went back to work this month. Adamson, Bray, Cole, Maas and Olivarez were brought back to work in the unit.
Fajardo was assigned to the Foothills and Mountain detachment; Darby was sent to the robbery/assault/gang unit and is working homicides; Reigle was assigned to the Special Assault Unit; and Rayner took an early retirement and left the department in June.
Reasons for the lawsuit
The lengthy lawsuit gives many reasons for why nine SIU members are suing.
They believe Schacht was out of line by allegedly threatening to fire drug unit members who hesitated to answer questions, ordering their cell phones seized and misinterpreting text messages that led him to believe drugs had been planted on a suspected dealer. That led to the FBI stepping in and ultimately the suspected dealer not being charged. An investigation found unit members had not planted drugs on the man.
Pastor and Bomkamp are accused of violating department policies by shutting down the unit without giving employees an opportunity to fix any issues and not telling SIU members what the allegations were against them.
“Rather than condemning the prosecutor’s office for its vindictive and retaliatory motives, the Sheriff’s department became even more complicit in the retaliation,” Mell wrote in the lawsuit. “PCSD failed to stand up for plaintiffs who had not violated policies and procedures as alleged by the prosecutor’s office.”
Sheriff’s administrators are also accused of failing to give Fajardo guidance in how to fix the issues, disparaging her publicly because they wanted Troyer to win the election and launching an investigation for false allegations.
“Such misconduct went beyond all possible bounds of decency so as to be regarded as atrocious and utterly intolerable in a civilized society,” according to the lawsuit.
Moving forward, SIU members are asking for Pierce County officials to clarify certain things to prevent these types of issues in the future. That includes the meaning of informant, an order saying law enforcement officers don’t have to disclose all sources and an order compelling the Prosecutor’s Office to have a written protocol for removing people from the PIE list.
A new law requiring that written protocol was passed this year, and the Pierce County Prosecutor’s Office said it is in the process of updating their policy.
The lawsuit also requests an order saying that Pierce County violated the SIU members’ First Amendment and due process rights.
This story was originally published July 30, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
