Seized items returned to sheriff's office critic
LCSO Detective Rick Lenz helps Terry Leonard's wife Emily carry computers, an audio recorder and electronic storage devices from the Lake County Courthouse to her car Thursday. The Sheriff's Office returned all but one of Leonard's seized items to her amid an ongoing investigation.
Terry Leonard's wife, Emily, checks the serial numbers of seized computers, an audio recorder and electronic storage devices before signing off on their return Thursday. The Sheriff's Office returned all but one of Leonard's items to her amid an ongoing investigation.
POLSON – A vocal critic of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, ex-sheriff’s deputy Terry Leonard, was silenced prior to last November’s heated elections when his websites “asksheriffluckylarson.com” and the original “nojaydoylesheriff.com” were shut down, his house searched and computers, electronic storage devices and printed e-mails confiscated. However, on Thursday afternoon, most of the property that was seized in the Sept. 30 raid of his Polson home, was returned after his attorneys contacted the county offices last week.
“It’s freedom of speech, freedom of press,” Leonard said of the saga, which began when his websites and a printed ad campaign criticized former Lake County Sheriff Lucky Larson and then-Undersheriff/current Sheriff Jay Doyle.
“After Lake County Sheriff entered, searched my home and illegally seized my property, no interview was ever conducted, nor was I ever contacted regarding any potential charges,” he said in an email to the Leader on Feb. 10. “No investigation ever took place.”
County attorney Mitchell Young could not comment on the investigation, which he said was ongoing for "violations against the election campaign laws."
“There are no charges at this point,” he said.
Leonard claims it's not about the election, and it never was, adding that he is well aware of the election campaign laws and maintains he has done nothing illegal.
“I didn’t do anything wrong and they know it,” he said. “It was a bullying and intimidation tactic to try and get me to stop exposing the corruption in Lake County. They didn’t call me, they didn’t interview me… they didn’t do anything. It’s a clear violation of my civil liberties."
According to Young, the investigation should be conducted by the commissioner of political practices, a state-level position that was vacated in January when former commissioner Dennis Unsworth stepped down.
“Until that position is filled, the investigation is going to be stalled,” he said.
An investigator with the Commission of Political Practices office in Helena was contacted Thursday and stated that “we had nothing to do with the search and seizure,” and the investigation Vanmeter v. Asksheriffluckylarson.com is listed as "underway."
The docket of formal complaints was issued with the commission of political practices by Lanny Vanmeter, Jay Doyle for Sheriff’s campaign treasurer, on April 13, 2010. Vanmeter filed a complaint against the "Owner or Operator of www.asksheriffluckylarson.com, www.nojaydoylesheriff.com, Concerned Citizens of Lake County and Concerned Citizens against Jay Doyle for Sheriff alleging violations of campaign finance and practices laws," the CPP’s website said.
The complaint alleged that state law was violated because the “group” didn’t register as a campaign committee and did not file campaign finance reports, but Leonard says he was the one and only “Concerned Citizen,” therefore not a “group,” and that the website was “not politically motivated.”
Leonard, who was not in Polson on Thursday because he is currently away undergoing training for the U.S. Army Reserves, had the items returned to his wife Emily.
“It’s been more than inconvenient,” she said. “It has been emotional.”