A sergeant in the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office alleges sheriff’s office leaders grant preferential treatment to employees who support Capt. William Bailey in his campaign for sheriff, and says he was retaliated against for his association with an employee union and Bailey’s election opponent, Sgt. Kent Vander Kamp.

Sgt. Jeremiah Minton filed a tort claim notice, which is an official notification of intent to sue, with Deschutes County on Aug. 1, accusing the sheriffs office of retaliation and discrimination.

Minton is the third employee in recent months to allege discrimination and retaliation within the sheriff’s office. Deputy Matthew Palmer and Sgt. James McLaughlin have also filed tort claim notices detailing alleged retaliation for their association with the union, Minton and Vander Kamp.

Sheriff Shane Nelson denied Minton’s allegations, saying the sheriff’s office “disputes the characterizations and allegations in the tort claim notice and will defend against them. We investigate all allegations and take appropriate action based on the findings. This investigation is ongoing and we will continue to investigate the employee’s allegation and any appropriate actions will be taken once the process is complete.”

Bailey did not respond to The Bulletin’s request for comment.

A personal account of retaliationMinton said the unequal treatment began around the time Nelson announced his decision to retire on July 7, 2023. He immediately endorsed Bailey, who announced his candidacy the previous week.

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”In the beginning of 2023, it was well known by DCSO members and employees that (Nelson) would be retiring at the end of (his) current term. Quickly it became apparent that (Bailey) had taken over most of the internal office responsibilities because Nelson was absent from his duties. It was also clear that Bailey was being groomed by Nelson to take over as Sheriff once Nelson retired,” the tort claim notice stated.

In response to Nelson’s retirement, upper management began to pre-determine promotions and assign special assignments to employees who most closely aligned with Bailey, Minton said in his tort claim notice. He also said those viewed as being in opposition to Bailey were transferred to “positions where they had less influence and would ultimately be silenced.”

Minton first became suspicious of retaliation shortly after Bailey’s opponent, Vander Kamp, announced his candidacy for sheriff in October. After Vander Kamp’s announcement, Minton and Bailey had a conversation in which Bailey repeatedly referred to Vander Kamp as “the other guy,” and made veiled attempts to secure Minton’s support, Minton said. Minton responded that, “it doesn’t matter who sits in the top office … As a patrol sergeant, I need to put the community first and the deputies a close second. That doesn’t change from the top office,” according to the tort claim notice.

A month later is when the discrimination began, Minton said. . Since then, Minton has allegedly suffered bullying by Lt. Joe DeLuca, reassignment to a supervisor loyal to Bailey, a baseless negative performance review by Lt. Jayson Janes, pressure by Nelson against filing a formal complaint and intimidation after his complaint was leaked to an anonymous website that purports to write about leadership problems at the sheriff’s office, DCSO Follies.

Warnings from co-workers

Since his first conversation with Bailey about allegiances, several of Minton’s co-workers cautioned him to be careful about voicing opposition to Bailey, Minton said in his tort claim notice. The first was Lt. Michael Sundberg, who warned Minton to be careful what he says around Bailey lest he begin to suspect Minton supports Vander Kamp, Minton said.

The second warning came months later after Minton prepared an official complaint about alleged retaliation and an appeal to his negative performance evaluation. During a meeting with Lt. Donald Manning, Manning told Minton that he should rethink his decision to file a complaint because it could either get him fired or escalate the retaliation he had been experiencing, Minton said.

Minton filed the complaint despite Manning’s warning, and Nelson confirmed Minton’s negative review was “amended … to the employee’s satisfaction.” But Minton said the discrimination escalated despite bringing the issue to Nelson, especially after his complaint was leaked. Some examples asserted in the tort claim notice include public humiliation criticizing Minton’s response to an emergency call, slander and gossip by DeLuca and verbal abuse by Janes over an employee radio channel.

Minton also later found out that the retaliation complaint he submitted was not in his personnel file. When he inquired about it, was told by Human Resources Manager Jennifer Mannix that “Nelson has elected not to include these kinds of documents in personnel files.”

A tough decision

Minton’s lawyer, Andrew Mittendorf, said the retaliation and the decision to pursue legal action against the sheriff’s office has weighed heavily on Minton.

“Sgt. Minton is facing anxiety about going in to work and facing the possible retaliation for filing a tort claim notice,” Mittendorf said. “That’s been weighing on Sgt. Minton’s mind as well as the idea that he has been a deputy with this county for 12 years and has a good reputation as a sergeant and as a SWAT team member. In doing this, he fears that he’s going to potentially be on a blacklist for the promotional opportunities or special assignments, or even that this will affect his ability to adequately do his job.”

Minton’s goal, Mittendorf said, is to get the harassment and intimidation to stop so that he can continue serving the people of Deschutes County to the best of his abilities. He also said Minton feels a responsibility to protect those he supervises from bullying and intimidation.

“He’s gotten to the point, as have many other Deschutes County sheriff deputies lately, where this just has to stop,” Mittendorf said. “It’s gone on too long.”

Minton, McLaughlin and Palmer have not filed lawsuits. However, their tort claim notices are the latest in a series of scandals that have plagued the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office. Currently, the office is being sued for wrongful termination by Deron McMaster, a captain who worked for the office for 28 years before he was fired. McMaster alleges Nelson retaliated against him for reporting misconduct within the sheriff’s office, and violated his free speech rights as a whistleblower.

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The sheriff’s office has also recently come under scrutiny for allegations of superfluous spending while facing a $2 million dollar budget shortfall. Minton briefly references some of these expenses in his tort claim notice as support of his allegations that Bailey’s political campaign impacted operations in the sheriff’s department, saying “spending on ‘Health of the Force’ went out of control and appeared to be a tactic to sway internal support for Bailey in the upcoming election.”