Spokane County sheriff fires deputy running for the law enforcement post - KATU

SPOKANE, Wash. — A former deputy who is running to be elected sheriff for Spokane County was fired from his job late last week after the current sheriff said his former deputy lied during an internal investigation

Ex-Deputy Craig Chamberlin has denied the accusation that he was not truthful during the investigation, suggesting that it may have resulted from his decision to run for sheriff. He was let go from the agency less than a week after he formally declared his intention to run for the position.

Current Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich has said he won't seek another term but he has endorsed current Undersheriff John Nowels to replace him.

The current sheriff said he let Chamberlin go because of a three-and-a-half month long investigation regarding a volleyball coach charged with possession of child pornography.

Chamberlin filed paperwork to run for sheriff with the state Public Disclosure Commission on Feb. 11. In his 22-year career with the sheriff’s office, Chamberlin became well-known to the public through numerous TV and radio appearances on behalf of the office.

Knezovich said Chamberlin lied about circumstances regarding a character reference letter Chamberlin wrote for his daughter’s club volleyball coach, who is facing the felony child pornography charge. Knezovich said an internal investigation against Chamberlin launched late last year and wrapped up last week, resulting in Chamberlin’s firing.

Knezovich said Chamberlin acknowledged in his letter, which Chamberlin said he wrote Sept. 5, that he knew about the charge the coach was facing before he wrote the letter. Each time investigators spoke with Chamberlin his story changed, Knezovich said.

Chamberlin, who denied that he lied, said a handwritten letter he received from the coach in early July requesting a positive reference was “very vague.” He said the coach did not specify what he was charged with or where the case was in the judicial process.

“The thing I can’t wrap my brain around is I was terminated for something that I had absolutely nothing to do with,” Chamberlin said of the criminal investigation into the coach. “I was not part of the investigation. I had no knowledge there was even an investigation until I received the letter from coach.”

Chamberlin said he was “sick to my stomach” when he heard the accusation against the coach, whom he has known since high school, because he stuck up for him with his reference letter. He said he regrets writing the letter.

Chamberlin also violated sheriff’s office policies in early 2021 when he allowed his girlfriend at the time to take a sleeping pill that was prescribed to Chamberlin. Chamberlin said providing her the medication was a mistake.

Knezovich said prosecutors declined to prosecute Chamberlin for the alleged crime, which would have been delivery of a controlled substance. Knezovich suspended Chamberlin for 40 hours but said he would have fired him had he been prosecuted.

source: https://katu.com/news/local/spokane-county-sheriff-fires-deputy-running-for-the-law-enforcement-post

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