AG's office rules on allegations

POLSON — The Montana Attorney General’s Office concluded its investigations into three complaints made by members of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office against Sheriff Jay Doyle, his former undersheriff, Karey Reynolds, and two deputies earlier this month.

Assistant Attorney General Brant Light wrote in letters to Lake County Attorney Mitch Young that he would not press charges for any of the claims, which were filed over the course of several months by three Lake County deputies. He did, however, recommend one of the incidents be handled administratively by the sheriff’s office and reported to the Montana Public Safety Officer Standards and Training Council (P.O.S.T.) for review.

“I am simultaneously pleased that the Montana Attorney General’s Office has responded so clearly to these unfounded allegations and disappointed on behalf of taxpayers at how much public funds, employee time and other resources were diverted away from public safety and instead wasted on dealing with unfounded, unsustained allegations,” Doyle said in a press release from the office on Monday.

In his letters, Light wrote he found no evidence that Sheriff Doyle or Undersheriff Reynolds obstructed justice when they told a deputy not to investigate an incident that took place at K. William Harvey Elementary School in Ronan.

“While the deputy felt there should have been more investigation into the incident, he admitted that the sheriff did not obstruct the investigation and that he overreacted,” Light wrote, adding that the allegation, which was made by Deputy Steven Kendley, was based almost solely on statements that he received from the deputy.

While the Montana Department of Criminal Investigation into Reynold’s perjury charge did lead Light to believe Reynolds had lied about his years of service to obtain a search warrant, pursuant to Montana code, a person commits the offense of perjury if a person knowingly makes a false statement under oath when the statement is material. The key in this case, Light wrote, was whether or not the statement affected the course or outcome of the proceeding.

“The district court judge was interviewed and she stated she would have granted the search warrant regardless if the officer had 20 years of experience or 10 years of experience,” he wrote. “The facts stated in the search warrant affidavit provided ample probable cause to justify the issuance of the warrant regardless of the years of experience of the affiant. Most important, the search warrant was never served because the defendant consented to the search.”

In other words, since the false statement was not material, Reynolds cannot be charged with perjury.

Finally, the third matter dealt with an accusation that former deputy Patrick O’Connor had illegally accessed Deputy Ben Woods’ personal computer and copied files from the computer. However, there was a lack of evidence to conclude that a crime had occurred and Light pointed to several obstacles that prevented the investigation from moving forward.