Sheriff's deputy fired

A Lake County Sheriff's deputy and school resource officer was fired last week and state investigators are looking into potential criminal charges amid allegations that he violated Ronan School District and Lake County employee policies.

Deputy Bill Witt was terminated last Thursday after the Sheriff's office was notified of a potential policy violation by Ronan superintendent Andy Holmlund, according to Undersheriff Mike Sargeant. A hearing on Witt's status, in which Witt had an opportunity to contest the allegations against him, was held at the Sheriff's office on Wednesday morning, but results of that hearing were unavailable by press time.

"We have asked the state's criminal investigation unit to come in and investigate. We feel that any time a law enforcement official is involved (in allegations), it's important for a non-biased, outside agency to come in to see if a criminal investigation is necessary," Sargeant said.

Sargeant said earlier this week that state investigators had not yet determined if criminal charges were necessary. He said the Sheriff's office would release more information after the hearing was completed.

"If he (Witt) shows up at the hearing, he can contest those issues. If he doesn't show up, that means he doesn't contest them," said Sargeant.

Sargeant declined to say specifically what policies Witt was alleged to have violated, but did say Witt's actions fell outside both the school district's and county's employee policies.

"I can confirm that there was a violation of both the Ronan School District policy and Lake County employee policy," Sargeant said.

A reporter was unable to contact Witt for comment.