Oregon’s Department of Justice is investigating the chief and lieutenant of the Stanfield Police Department on a range of allegations, including that the officers failed to properly log evidence, made unjustified traffic stops and arrests and engaged in unethical behavior.
Two of the department’s four officers – Police Chief Bryon Zumwalt and Lt. Troy LaMonte Toombs – have been placed on administrative leave, according to an online OregonLive article published on Friday.
According to the article, Zumwalt faces allegations that he seized a revolver from a motorist, but didn’t enter it into evidence in connection with the stop, according to former and a current officer. The story also states the chief allegedly failed to look into serious complaints about Toombs that other officers brought to him, according to documents obtained by The Oregonian/OregonLive.
With the chief and lieutenant now on leave, the Umatilla County community of 2,040 people has just one full-time officer on patrol. One officer was fired in late October. The department also patrols neighboring Echo.
Stanfield City Manager W. Blair Larsen said he’s aware of the ongoing state Justice Department investigation.
According to the article, earlier last week, Ryan McBride, the officer fired last month, filed a notice of intent to sue the chief and city, claiming he was ousted in retaliation for reporting to the chief alleged unethical and criminal behavior by the lieutenant.
McBride alleged in August that Toombs seized at least two marijuana plants during a criminal investigation but failed to properly log the plants into evidence and may have taken the plants for personal use, his notice says.
McBride also told the chief that Toombs was approaching married couples in the Stanfield and Echo area and soliciting them to engage in sex acts with him and his wife, the notice says.
Zumwalt, 39, was hired as a Stanfield police officer on Jan. 1, 1999, promoted to lieutenant in 2002 and named chief on March 1, 2003.
Read the full story online.
