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MICHAEL DUNNE: I'm Michael Dunne. It's often said that the most important tool that a law enforcement officer has is not a badge or a gun, it's trust. Trust from the community that those sworn to uphold the law are honest brokers of the truth. Well, right now in Deschutes County, the truth, at least coming from the sheriff himself, has been called into question numerous times. Today on the show, you'll hear from two reporters who have been covering the falsehoods and lies that have caught up Sheriff Kent Van der Kamp, First, a conversation with the Ben Bulletin about the history of lies, and then you'll hear from my colleague at OPB about how the sheriff's actions might imperil legal cases going forward. Sheriff Van der Kamp was elected sheriff of Deschutes County with 60% of the vote, and was seen as a popular reformer to an embattled department. Now he's in real jeopardy of becoming a massive distraction to that department with lies uncovered over decades of service. We begin with a report from Central Oregon's paper of record, the Ben Bulletin. Morgan Owen, the crime and public safety reporter for The Bulletin out of Bend. Thanks so much for coming on and talking to us.
MORGAN OWEN: Thank you for having me. Michael
MICHAEL DUNNE: I know a lot of people have heard about this, but I want to give you the opportunity to really explain to the audience, give us this overview of what's been happening with the Deschutes County Sheriff?
MORGAN OWEN: So, to really understand the full picture of what's happening right now with the Deschutes County Sheriff, we actually need to backtrack a little bit too before the election. Van der Kamp ran on a platform that he was going to return transparency to the sheriff's office, and ultimately, he won the election, but that was not before it came out that he had omitted information about having previous experience with the La Mesa Police Department in California. And when all of that came out, it also came out that he was separated from that law enforcement agency. At the time, he was a volunteer deputy, so he wasn't actually being paid by that office. He lied about having a speed gun certification. Now, that happened almost 30 years ago in 1997 but the campaign for both Van der Kamp and Captain William Bailey, there was a lot of muckraking, so it really moved to the forefront of conversation, even though it did happen a really long time ago. Even with that said, voters decided to elect Van der Kamp and for the last for his first 100 days, essentially, things seemed more or less fine. We were hearing a lot of good reports coming out of the office that the culture inside the agency had changed, but then in the last couple of weeks a report was dropped by the Deschutes County District Attorney's office that showed evidence that Van der Kamp had lied on the stand in three separate occasions, at the very least they know of right now. And what he lied about was specifically where he got his degrees. He didn't lie about having those degrees or the majors that he majored in, but the institutions, the District Attorney's Office, verified that was never enrolled in either USC or the University of Arizona. And so, this additional information came out a couple weeks ago.
MICHAEL DUNNE: What did the sheriff say about that?
MORGAN OWEN: Yeah, it gets a little sticky here, because, for lack of a better term, there's a web of lies going on here. When I first spoke with the sheriff on the 11th about his being put on the Brady list by the district attorney's office, he said that he was not aware of the situation, and he speculated that it was likely related to the La Mesa scandal.
MICHAEL DUNNE: Just for our audience to know, what is the Brady list again?
MORGAN OWEN: The Brady list is essentially a list that is kept by district attorney's offices. Essentially everyone has this list, and it's a list of officers that they know to be dishonest and are barred from giving witness testimony on the stand because of evidence of their dishonesty. I
MICHAEL DUNNE: Interesting. Okay, and so he was placed on this list.
MORGAN OWEN: Yes, he was placed on this list. He was placed on tier one. There are two tiers to our Brady list, and there are currently eight officers on that, including Van der Kamp.
MICHAEL DUNNE: Now, okay, okay, so I'm sorry to interrupt you, but so he's on this list. You talked to him about this new reporting, about being dishonest, about where he obtained his degrees, and he said to you, Oh, I thought it was just about what happened 30 years ago in La Mesa?
MORGAN OWEN: That is what he told me, and this was a quick email exchange that he and I had on the 11th at that point, the District Attorney's Offices findings hadn't gone public. The details of why that decision was made were not released until the 18th, and when the district attorney's report came out on the 18th, it became abundantly clear that our district attorney, Steve Gunnels had personally met with Van der Kemp's attorney to talk about the situation in hopes of getting the issue resolved quickly. But no information from either Van der Kemp or his attorney verifying his educational history was forthcoming, so the district attorney's office proceeded with getting its own verification. So that's the first little sticky bit that's going on there is that he was saying that he was unaware of the situation, when the report clearly shows that he was.
MICHAEL DUNNE: So, where are we now? I mean, I know you have tried to get comments from him since that time when you had your email exchange with him. Has the sheriff provided more insight?
MORGAN OWEN: We have had several conversations since then. The initial conversation after the report dropped, Sheriff Van der Kamp said that he had submitted the CV. So essentially how this happened on the stand was that Van der Kamp submitted a CV with all of his employment history, his work credentials, all of that to Oregon State Police. And that CV is then used to verify his academic credentials on the stand when he's testifying. Okay, so what he told me was that he had submitted for that CV to be created through a website called Fiverr. It's a gig website where you can have somebody create your CV and format it all nicely. He said the person on Fiverr made a mistake, and that he admits that he did make an error by reading that aloud on the stand. I've since pressed him in other conversations about the believability of that statement, and he added later that at the time in 2013 when the first transcript shows that he did lie on the stand, that he was working graveyard shifts, and he was chronically exhausted, and he did make a mistake. But he attributed it primarily to that exhaustion.
MICHAEL DUNNE: So, if I'm hearing you right, we have a sheriff in Deschutes County that has been placed on this list, which was created by the district attorney, which says he's not believable. He's seemingly going to great lengths to try and justify his lying on the stand. My follow up question is, what are you hearing from the public? He was elected, as you said at the beginning, seemingly his first few months in office seemed to be going pretty well, and perhaps even he was popular. What are you hearing from both official sources, as well as just people in general, in Bend about this?
MORGAN OWEN: I think it's really hard to know what people are thinking without official polling, because this is a really developing situation. And I think the thing that is important to reiterate is that when he was elected by voters, which was 60% of voters, voted for him. When he was elected, they already knew that he had a history of dishonesty through La Mesa, so voters were willing to overlook that. Now I can't speak to whether everybody feels like this subsequent lie, or any lies that have maybe come out since then, whether or not that creates a pattern of dishonesty, whether they are willing to look past that and acknowledge the positive changes that Van der Kamp says he is bringing to Deschutes County and for employees inside the sheriff's office.
MICHAEL DUNNE: Okay. Has there been a group, perhaps in Deschutes County, who wants to recall him, or is there an effort to try and remove him, understanding that it's very hard to remove a sheriff?
MORGAN OWEN: I think with all scandals, the opinion that he should step down is certainly circulated. I think what's interesting is that the satire website DSCO Follies, which was also really prominent part of the campaign, it was that website was openly critical of Nelson's administration and was very supportive of Van der Kamp while he was running that was one of the first places where I saw that there was a call for him to resign. And that website has largely been silent since Van der Kamp took office on January 1, and I think it's really interesting that they broke their silence on this point.
MICHAEL DUNNE: I'm wondering this too: Let's, let's say the sheriff survives this scandal, and, you know, continues to be the sheriff for Deschutes County. Let's say there's a case that requires his testimony. So, he's on this Brady list - what happens when a sheriff on this list gets in front of a court of law. Can any defense attorney say, Well, this guy's obviously lying? Look, he's on the Brady list. How does it go from here, once you're on this list, can you get off of it?
MORGAN OWEN: Yeah, you really can't get off this list once evidence has been found that you are untruthful. I really think that it is generally the position of the district attorney's office from both sides of litigation that he's just not a source that you can put on the stand and be trusted. And the Brady list, in effect, is a prohibition of him taking the stand again in Deschutes County. So, if there were a case that required his testimony, he simply would not be able to get up on the stand.
MICHAEL DUNNE: Wow, wow, fascinating. Well, I know you're going to be continuing to follow this, because it certainly is a story with many moving parts. Morgan Owen, the crime and public safety reporter, does a great job at the Ben Bulletin, thank you so much for coming on and explaining this interesting, interesting story.
MORGAN OWEN: Yeah, there was just one other thing I wanted to say, and when you asked whether he was popular, I think it's really important to note that whether he's popular with the public through investigations the Bulletin has done recently, we know that he's very popular with employees inside the office and we've heard a lot from different officers in different departments that there has been a lot of positive change that is going on internally. We have also heard anonymously that there are people who would like to say critical things about the sheriff, but are still worried about the fear of retaliation. And I think a lot of that speaks to the entrenched toxicity that has plagued the office for over a decade. And I really can't blame people for being scared about the situation, and I really can't blame voters if they want to reassess their trust in the sheriff.
MICHAEL DUNNE: Morgan, thanks so much. I really appreciate it.
MORGAN OWEN: Yeah, of course. Thank you so much. It was great to talk to you.
MICHAEL DUNNE: Let's check in on the latest with OPB reporter Emily Cureton Cook, about embattled Sheriff Kent Van der Kamp. Emily Cureton Cook, reporter with OPB, thank you so much for coming on and talking with us.
EMILY CURETON COOK: You're very welcome.
MICHAEL DUNNE: I know you've been doing some major reporting about this very concerning story out of Deschutes County about Sheriff Kent Van der Kamp and the falsehoods and misrepresentations that he has made. What are officials saying about those falsehoods and misrepresentations from Sheriff Van der Kamp?
EMILY CURETON COOK: Well, six ways Deschutes County Sheriff Kent Van der Kamp was dishonest could actually be the subtitle of a draft state investigation that was sent to him last week. The sheriff got a copy of a state agency's case against him. On April 14 in an email OPB got the document through a public records request. It was authored by staff with the Department of Public Safety Standards and Training, known as DPSST, and agency staff there found quote, Van der Kamp's dishonesty under oath discredits the law enforcement profession, end quote. It also found he harmed the public's trust by intentionally falsifying documents. And DPSST officials listed six ways Van der Kamp’s falsehoods have snowballed over the last 20 years or so.
MICHAEL DUNNE: Can you give us some specific examples?
EMILY CURETON COOK: Well, DPSST found he repeatedly lied about being fired from La Mesa, California's Police Department in 1997 before he moved to Oregon. And the DPSST case also includes the findings of this separate investigation released this month by the Deschutes County district's Attorney's Office, the county's top prosecutor. His name is Steve Gunnels, and he found Van der Kamp claimed under oath to have received degrees from universities that he never attended. That's according to the DA and here's some tape from a 2013 criminal trial. It's a Van der Kamp testifying under oath as an expert witness:
SHERIFF VAN DER KAMP: …in 1995, I graduated from the University of Southern California with a degree in business management. In 1997 I graduated from University of Arizona with a degree in, or a master's degree in business management.
EMILY CURETON COOK: That's just not true. According to a five-month long investigation by the DA it found that around 2017 Van der Kemp stopped falsely claiming under oath that he went to those schools, and he listed different schools in the voter pamphlet last year. As a result of all of this, DA Gunnels deemed the sheriff too untrustworthy to testify, and he took the unusual step of placing him on what's known in legal circles as a Brady list. Being on that list severely undermines a law enforcement officers credibility and taken all together, DPSST’s draft report states the sheriff's conduct violates moral fitness standards for police officers in Oregon.
MICHAEL DUNNE: Can you, for our audience, kind of explain what the Department of Public Safety Standards and Training is and what they're considering regarding the sheriff?
EMILY CURETON COOK: DPSST oversees standards for police officers in Oregon and certifies them. Those certifications aren't like licenses that say yes, you can be a police officer, but they are a testament to an officer's qualifications when local agencies or state agencies hire them. DPSST also reviews serious accusations of ethical misconduct by police officers, and the agency's Police Policy Committee is planning to review the draft report about Van der Kamp and any response the sheriff provides to it at its next meeting, May 22. It is also considering revoking his certifications. That could be a big deal because Oregon State law requires a person holding the office of Sheriff to be certified as a police officer within one year of taking office.
MICHAEL DUNNE: And I know you've had several conversations with the sheriff. Tell our audience you know what he's told you about his actions and sort of what are his plans going forward?
EMILY CURETON COOK: Well, he has been hard to pin down. The last couple of weeks, he's declined many interview requests from OPB through a spokesperson, though he did personally call me back once last week to say he would not be answering questions yet, and he said at the time that he does not intend to resign. Before OPB got a copy of the draft DPSST report this week with its long timeline of allegations about his lying and falsehoods, Van der Kamp put out a statement that he was, quote, disappointed, end quote with the DA findings. And he said that they aren't accurate.
MICHAEL DUNNE: I know that law enforcement officers have unions. What is the local union been saying about the sheriff?
EMILY CURETON COOK: Well, important context here is that the Deschutes County Sheriff's employee Association backed Van der Kamp before he was elected to a first term last year, following a series of lawsuits by employees and former employees under the watch of the former Sheriff Shane Nelson, many deputies and others at this sheriff's office had hoped Van der Kamp could professionalize the agency and usher in a new era of better will and frankly, less lawsuits. I spoke with Union president Danny Graham, who's a sergeant at the sheriff's office. He told me, right now, the union is holding back on comment until its members plan to meet again May 7, but that he's also sure there's some upset people in the ranks who will want to discuss the sheriff.
MICHAEL DUNNE: And then, of course, you know people inside the sheriff's office. What have they been saying? What have you been able to find out about the mood inside the office?
EMILY CURETON COOK: Well, Graham said that, speaking personally as a long-time law enforcement officer, he both trusts the DA and has been a friend of the sheriffs. He said he was saddened by this whole ordeal, and he told me he put a lot of confidence and trust in Van der Kamp and that he doesn't want to lose that. Sergeant Graham also said he feels the agency is heading in a good direction right now. It's so important to remember Van der Kamp was elected on promises of reforming this agency that's been marred by personnel scandals, all these lawsuits by staff and accusations of overspending under the previous administration for much of the last decade, and Van der Kamp promised change. He was formerly a sergeant. He led the county's drug enforcement team. He also runs a mortgage lending company, and he said he could use his business experience to rein in spending. This week, Van der Kamp told Central Oregon Daily he's going to make a decision on resigning within 90 days, and that's because he hopes to keep working on his goals for the agency.
MICHAEL DUNNE: Now I know he's also gone after OPB and tried to silence the reporting. Talk about that.
EMILY CURETON COOK: During the 2024 election cycle, Van der Kamp took OPB and me and Deschutes County to court to try and seal records about his past law enforcement experience in La Mesa. That did not work. And I should note here, OPB continues to have active litigation over legal fees associated with Van der Kamp's lawsuit.
MICHAEL DUNNE: Okay, probably my last question for you is, what happens next?
EMILY CURETON COOK: The DPSST process could go a few ways. Next month, if officials move to revoke Van der Kamp certifications, the sheriff will have the option to appeal and request a hearing, and during that appeals process, his certifications are still valid and under review until a final order is issued. If Van der Kamp resigns, the Deschutes County Board of Commissioners would appoint an interim sheriff. In that case, the county clerk told me the next opportunity voters will get to permanently select a replacement would be the 2026 election cycle. And if Van der Kamp doesn't resign, he could be vulnerable to a recall effort starting in July after he served six months in office.
MICHAEL DUNNE: Emily Cureton Cook a reporter with Oregon Public Broadcasting following this incredible story. Thank you so much for coming on and talking with us.
EMILY CURETON COOK: You're very welcome, Michael.
MICHAEL DUNNE: That's the show for today. All episodes of Oregon on the record are available as a podcast at klcc.org
Tomorrow on the show, you'll hear from the Vice Provost of the University of Oregon about what leadership is doing to protect international students from the Trump administration. I'm Michael Dunne, and this has been Oregon on the record from KLCC. Thanks for listening.
