Complaints filed with at least two state agencies allege that Sgt. Kent Vander Kamp, who is running for Deschutes County Sheriff, and his fellow board members at the Prineville-based nonprofit CLEAR Alliance discriminated and retaliated against its former executive director.

Mandi Puckett, who left CLEAR Alliance as its executive director in May 2023, alleges that Vander Kamp, the board’s president, engaged in unlawful and unethical conduct between 2021 and 2023. She is also alleging other board members engaged in the same behavior.

Vander Kamp, who has been on the nonprofit’s board since 2018, is a drug enforcement agent with the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office and one of two candidates running this year for the top job.

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CLEAR Alliance focuses on substance use and impaired driving advocacy and education. CLEAR stands for Children Learning through Education and Research. It has been a tax-exempt nonprofit since 2015, according to publicly available 990 filings with the Internal Revenue Service.

Allegations of discrimination

Puckett initially filed a complaint with the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries in March 2023 alleging discrimination. Following that complaint, “the retaliatory and unlawful conduct continued or worsened,” she wrote in an updated complaint filed on Jan. 1.

Puckett left the nonprofit in May 2023 on medical leave, citing deteriorating health and advice from her doctor and mental health counselor.

She later signed a settlement agreement with Vander Kamp in November, which contained a release of claims against the nonprofit. Puckett officially became unemployed on Nov. 11.

In the complaint filed with the agency in January, Puckett alleged Vander Kamp, Belinda Ballah, the nonprofit’s board vice president, and Marlys Alger, the board secretary, misclassified employees as independent contractors, breached the terms of her settlement agreement and retaliated against her for her earlier reports and complaints.

“I was especially afraid of Sgt. VanderKamp (sic) and what else he would do to me considering his authority and power as a law enforcement officer,” Puckett wrote in the complaint.

Puckett alleged Vander Kamp and Alger breached the settlement agreement when they both showed up to witness Puckett and nine of her family members retrieving her personal belongings from the office of the nonprofit. Only one person from the nonprofit was supposed to be present, Puckett said.

Office clearing prompts police call

The second complaint was filed with the Oregon Department of Public Safety Standards and Training on Dec. 6, 2023. The complaint described in more detail the day Puckett and her family retrieved her belongings.

The situation escalated when Vander Kamp allegedly told Puckett she couldn’t retrieve her belongings from the nonprofit’s basement.

“Sgt. VanderKamp (sic) then stood by the basement door and threatened to call the police on us if we went into the basement,” Puckett wrote in the complaint.

As things began to “verbally escalate,” Puckett’s group feared things might become physical, the complaint said. Puckett’s father, a retired state police trooper, told Vander Kamp he “took care of” calling the Prineville Police Department to the office, the complaint said.

A Prineville officer responded but left shortly thereafter since the situation was a civil matter, the complaint said.

Puckett did not return The Bulletin’s request for comment. However, her lawyer, Craig Crispin of Portland, echoed the words outlined in Puckett’s complaints.

“It’s a retaliation against Ms. Puckett for asserting that she’d been discriminated against and retaliated against during her employment,” Crispin said.

Puckett alleges Vander Kamp or other nonprofit staff used her identity to conduct business without her permission.

She called into question Vander Kamp’s ethics and honesty saying he may be using CLEAR Alliance’s financial resources for “his own personal gain and interests,” she wrote.

The complaint with the safety standards and training department was referred to the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office in January, said Sam Tenney, a spokesperson for the department.

The sheriff’s office is currently reviewing the complaint and it is considered an open case, Jason Wall, a spokesperson for the sheriff, said in an email.

Vander Kamp’s response

Vander Kamp provided The Bulletin with an emailed statement on behalf of the nonprofit’s board and staff:

“CLEAR is committed to providing a safe, discriminatory-free workplace and operating responsibly and ethically. CLEAR cannot presently comment on any open investigations but is fully cooperative and looks forward to closing this matter very soon,” the statement said.

Vander Kamp later told The Bulletin the complaints are just two of many from “a former disgruntled employee.”

“We parted ways with her, and since then I’ve been the targets of her complaints,” he said.

The other board members named in the BOLI complaint did not respond to The Bulletin’s requests for comment.