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A former Redmond Police detective was charged Thursday with criminal misconduct for having sex on duty with a drug task force informant.

Cory Buckley was served notice by the Deschutes County District Attorney’s Office.

The state alleges that in 2017, Buckley, while assigned to the Central Oregon Drug Enforcement team, used his work phone while sexting with a woman who was providing information to the team’s detectives about illegal drug activity in Deschutes County.

The state also alleges that Buckley used his work vehicle to meet with this woman for sexual encounters while on duty, Deschutes County District Attorney John Hummel told The Bulletin.

The alleged misconduct came to light when the woman made disclosures to Bend Police Lt. Adam Juhnke.

“Yesterday, I spoke with the victim and told her she is a hero,” Hummel wrote in a statement.

“In the darkest moment of her life, while battling an addiction to drugs, and being involved in the criminal justice system, she was preyed on by a police officer who held her fate in his hands,” Hummel wrote. “She reported what Buckley did, so that he wouldn’t do it to anyone else. On behalf of everyone in Deschutes County, I thank her.”

Redmond Police Capt. Devin Lewis issued a department statement on Buckley, stating he had resigned on Jan. 12 “in lieu of termination while under an Internal Affairs Investigation unrelated to the case brought forward by Bend PD or the charges brought forward by the District Attorney’s Office.”

The internal affairs investigation was related to Buckley’s “improper contact with a community member via a department issued cell phone that began in April of 2019 and continued through October of 2019,” Lewis said.

Buckley, who joined the department in 2014, was the last Redmond officer to take a life while on duty. In August 2016, he intentionally rammed Michael William Gaskill with his squad car as Gaskill threatened another Redmond officer with a firearm, according to Bulletin archives.

Buckley was awarded the department’s “Medal of Valor” for his actions.