Embattled Deschutes County Sheriff’s deputy on leave pending criminal investigation

Published 2:00 am Wednesday, August 9, 2023

A deputy who was previously disciplined for violating Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office policies for an incident at a Bend bar is now being criminally investigated in a separate incident.

Deputy Kyle K. Pettit was placed on administrative leave April 20 pending an internal affairs and criminal investigation, according to the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office.

Oregon State Police are conducting the criminal investigation, said Sgt. Jason Wall, who disclosed the investigation following inquiries from The Bulletin.

A press release from the sheriff’s office did not say what authorities are investigating. Wall said further details will come from Oregon State Police or the Deschutes County District Attorney’s Office.

Deschutes County District Attorney Steve Gunnels told The Bulletin on Monday that authorities have been investigating crimes Pettit may have committed while off duty in the La Pine area between February and May of this year.

The Oregon State Police forwarded its investigation to the Deschutes County District Attorney’s Office for review, Gunnels said. Pettit has not been charged or arrested.

Gunnels said he could not provide further details until his office makes a decision about whether or not to charge Pettit. He said his office will work with the Oregon State Police as the investigation continues.

Madras failed to investigate officers’ allegations against former chief. The state took ‘no action.’

Madras failed to investigate officers’ allegations against former chief. The state took ‘no action.’

Pettit was hired by the sheriff’s office as a reserve deputy in 2016, online records show. He became a deputy sheriff in September 2017. A year later, he was assigned to patrol the La Pine area, according to the sheriff’s office Facebook page.

Pettit was disciplined in May for an incident that occurred at the Southside Pub in Bend on June 5, 2022, according to disciplinary records previously reported by The Bulletin.

Pettit was off-duty and drinking, records show. A bartender cut him off, so he flashed his official Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office ID and told her he was an on-duty deputy sheriff, hoping she would then serve him more alcohol, according to disciplinary records.

Deschutes County Sheriff’s deputy disciplined for incident at Bend bar

Deschutes County Sheriff’s deputy disciplined for incident at Bend bar

After that, a cook spotted him urinating on an electrical box outside the bar’s back door, records say.

Pettit received a one-day suspension without pay and was removed from the sheriff’s office detective unit and reassigned to the patrol division as a deputy sheriff. Wall said the latest investigation is not related to the bar incident.

Other sheriff’s office employees are also under investigation for bad behavior.

On July 28, the sheriff’s office announced that Lt. Joshua McGowan, who works at the Deschutes County jail, had been placed on paid leave pending the outcome of criminal and internal affairs investigations.

Oregon State Police are also investigating McGowan’s case. Authorities have provided no details.

In October, prosecutors charged former sheriff’s detective Ron Brown for allegedly transferring sexual pictures and videos of a man and his girlfriend to his own phone. Brown was investigating the man’s death, then-District Attorney John Hummel said.

The district attorney’s office accused Brown of using his role as a law enforcement official to help the man’s girlfriend. Prosecutors allege he then directed her to get into his car where he was watching pornography and had an erection.

He has been charged with misdemeanor first-degree official misconduct and the unlawful dissemination of an intimate image, according to court records. His trial is scheduled for late November.

Deschutes County Sheriff’s lieutenant placed on leave pending criminal, internal investigations

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