By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – While a judge decided last week former Lewis County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Hal Sprouse should get his job back, that isn’t likely to happen anytime soon.
Sheriff Steve Mansfield plans to appeal Friday’s decision by a Cowlitz County Superior Court judge, a sheriff’s office spokesperson said yesterday.
Lewis County Sheriff Steve Mansfield
“The only comment we have is we are appealing the case and we have no other comment at this time, due to the current litigation,” Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said.
Sprouse, now 61, was terminated by Sheriff Mansfield in January of last year, and the Lewis County Civil Service Commission subsequently upheld the firing.
Sprouse’s termination stemmed from the sheriff’s office’s contention that Sprouse was insubordinate and violated the chain of command when he contacted a deputy prosecutor to say he believed some of his superiors were engaging in intimidation and witness tampering – of him – during an outside investigation of Mansfield’s handling of a runaway girl case in 2009.
Court documents indicate the intimidation that Sprouse was alleging followed a complaint by the Lewis County Deputies Guild to the Lewis County prosecutor that led to an investigation by the Washington State Patrol about potential misconduct by the sheriff including allegedly harboring a runaway; the 16-year-old girlfriend of Mansfield’s son.
Sprouse believed he was being intimidated as a potential witness in any action that might be brought against the sheriff, documents in the court file state.
The sheriff’s office also contended Sprouse was dishonest when he failed to reveal to a superior he had spoken to the deputy prosecutor about his witness tampering concerns.
While the Civil Service Commission that reviewed Sprouse’s termination concluded Sprouse was not insubordinate, did not violate the chain of command and was not untruthful, the three-panel board still decided the sheriff terminated Sprouse in good faith for just cause.
The commission wrote in its April 27, 2010 decision Sprouse’s call to the deputy prosecutor was without a good-faith belief a crime was committed; that it was vindictive and retaliatory for a letter of discipline he had been given.
“This action, in our determination, irreparably erodes the confidence the Lewis County Sheriff and his command staff have in Deputy Sprouse,” the commission wrote.
Sprouse filed his appeal of the commission’s decision in Lewis County Superior Court in May of last year. All three local judge’s recused themselves, so an outside judge was asked to preside.
Cowlitz County Superior Court Judge Stephen Warning’s ruling on Friday overturned the firing, Sprouse’s attorney Rick Cordes said yesterday.
“The judge said the evidence didn’t support that Sprouse was being vindictive when he went to the deputy prosecutor,” Cordes said.
The Tacoma attorney, Richard H. Wooster, who is representing the sheriff’s office, declined to comment on the case.
While Sprouse’s situation wasn’t necessarily directly related to the runaway girl case, “It’s all part of what was going on when he had these conversations with sheriff’s office (superiors) and the conversation with the deputy prosecutor,” Cordes said.
Sprouse was the first deputy to respond in March 2009 to the report of a runaway girl by her parents, – a girl who was staying with the sheriff’s son on the sheriff’s property, according to Cordes.
He didn’t feel comfortable investigating his boss,” Cordes said. “During that time, he felt there was some pressure to ‘stay in line’.”
Documents in the court file – Sprouse’s appeal of his termination – describe that as sheriff’s office command staff investigated a leak to the press of the outside investigation of the sheriff, Sprouse was given a letter of discipline for allowing his adult son and the son’s girlfriend to view a sheriff’s office report on the matter.
It didn’t lead to a conclusion about who leaked the report, but Sprouse was angry about getting disciplined and it was after that Sprouse began making allegations, according to a document filed by the sheriff’s office attorney Wooster.
Sprouse shared his concerns with two sergeants, who disagreed he was the target of witness tampering, according to Wooster’s filings.
On Oct. 24, 2009, Sprouse was informed there would be an interview in a few hours with another sergeant who would review his concerns, Wooster wrote, and he was directed not to speak about it to anyone other than his union representative.
Before that interview, Sprouse contacted the on-call deputy prosecutor, Jonathan Richardson and claimed witness tampering and intimidation, according to documents in the court file.
Within the week, the sheriff’s office learned what Sprouse had done. He was terminated Jan. 15, 2010.
Sprouse’s lawyer Cordes argued in one of his briefs to Judge Warning, as the Civil Service Commission had already stated, that deputies are sworn to uphold the laws of the state of Washington and nobody may order a deputy not to report a crime.
Cordes said Sprouse wants his job back, and theoretically Friday’s decision mean’s he will get reinstated with back pay and benefits.
Except the sheriff’s office is appealing, he said.
And that means, “If he wins, then they’ll owe him for close to four years in back pay,” Cordes said.
Sprouse, who started work at the sheriff’s office in November of 2001 after retiring from the Phoenix, Ariz. Police Department, is currently selling real estate locally.
Side notes:
Deputy Prosecutor Richardson passed along Sprouse’s allegation of witness tampering to elected Lewis County Prosecutor Michael Golden, who referred the matter to the Washington State Patrol.
After a limited inquiry, the state patrol concluded no further action would be taken on Sprouse’s allegations.
And, the investigation of Sheriff Mansfield ended in Nov. 2009, with the state Attorney General’s office faulting Mansfield for failing to ask an outside agency to handle the runaway case, but declining to file a criminal charge against the sheriff.
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Read the Lewis County Sheriff’s Civil Service Commission, “Decision after hearing” in the matter of Deputy Hal Sprouse: signed April 27, 2010, here
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