A Deschutes sheriff candidate is at the center of a chaotic battle over public records

A California judge has tentatively ruled that documents related to an internal investigation into Deschutes County sheriff candidate Kent Vander Kamp should be released to the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office, but he must receive more information from the agency about how it plans to use the records before moving forward.

In April, Sheriff Shane Nelson began investigating Vander Kamp’s past experience with the La Mesa Police Department in Southern California. He believes Vander Kamp, now a sergeant with the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office, was fired from his position as a reserve deputy in 1997 for dishonesty.

When Nelson’s request for Vander Kamp’s personnel records was unsuccessful, he sued the city of La Mesa for failing to disclose records from an internal investigation into Vander Kamp. A captain of the La Mesa Police Department had told Nelson that the records had been commissioned.

Vander Kamp said through his attorney, Randy Harvey, that he does not remember the circumstances of his firing. He requested a copy of the files from the La Mesa Police Department on his own behalf and intends to provide them to the sheriff’s office and the public as soon as he has them, Harvey said.

California Records Act

The city of La Mesa is withholding the documents from the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office because of a law that requires California agencies to keep police records confidential except in special cases of misconduct, such as dishonesty, excessive use of force and sexual abuse.

According to the preliminary ruling from the Superior Court of California County in San Diego, even if Vander Kamp’s records meet those standards for release, a judge must first determine whether the information is relevant to the lawsuit. Because this lawsuit concerns the city of La Mesa’s inadequate compliance with a public records request, it is unclear whether or not Nelson can use the records in his investigation of Vander Kamp.

“The court will therefore hear from the DCSO information regarding the nature of the … investigation, the relevance of this case to this litigation, and how the DCSO intends to use the material in light of the mandatory protective order,” Judge Loren Freestone said in the tentative decision.

The Brady List and the consequences of dishonesty

Nelson wants Vander Kamp’s personnel records from the city of La Mesa because he believes Vander Kamp was placed on a Brady list in California after his firing from the La Mesa Police Department. Brady lists are records kept by local prosecutors that document officers who have been excluded from testifying due to dishonesty.

Typically, investigations into an officer’s Brady List status are triggered by pending testimony in a major criminal case. Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Sergeant Jason Wall said Vander Kamp has “court proceedings” between now and the end of the year, but Harvey told The Bulletin that Vander Kamp is not scheduled to testify in any pending civil or criminal cases. In any case, Wall confirmed that the agency intends to use the documents as part of an ongoing administrative investigation into Vander Kamp.

But even without the release of Vander Kamp’s employment records, documents from the sheriff’s office’s lawsuit against La Mesa confirm that Vander Kamp was terminated for cause from his unpaid position as a part-time reserve police officer in 1997. Vander Kamp, who now leads field operations for the multi-agency Central Oregon Drug Enforcement Team, had previously told the Bulletin that his role in La Mesa was volunteer as a park ranger.

In a deposition obtained by the Bulletin, Captain Matthew Nicholass of the La Mesa Police Department confirmed that the department retained records of an internal investigation into Vander Kamp. Nicholas then described the exact nature of the investigation, but that portion of the deposition transcript was kept under seal pending the court’s final decision.

However, unsealed portions of the deposition indicate that Vander Kamp was accused of dishonesty and that the Los Angeles Police Department was also involved in the investigation. Nicholass also said that Vander Kamp could not be rehired by the La Mesa Police Department.

A decades-old application

Deschutes County Sheriff’s Deputy Paul Garrison also states in court documents that Vander Kamp failed to disclose his employment with the La Mesa Police Department when he applied for a job with the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office in 2004. Wall told The Bulletin that the sheriff’s office was unaware of Vander Kamp’s omission until a citizen informed the office in the spring, which sparked the initial public records request and subsequent investigation.

Harvey, Vander Kamp’s attorney, disputed Vander Kamp’s omissions in his application to the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office and questioned why Nelson requested those documents again more than two decades after Vander Kamp was hired.

“He was hired by Deschutes County years ago and signed a form at the time giving them the right to request his entire file from La Mesa. So they had the right to get his full file years ago and apparently didn’t do it… There doesn’t seem to be any reason for them to request the files years later,” Harvey said.

Records from the Deschutes County Clerk’s Office show that Vander Kamp also did not list his experience in La Mesa on his application forms.

Further political implications

Harvey said he could think of one reason why Nelson would want the documents: because it serves him politically.

Nelson will resign as sheriff when his term ends in January, but he has openly supported Vander Kamp’s opponent, Deschutes County Sheriff’s Capt. William Bailey, in the Nov. 5 election. This month, Vander Kamp filed a tort suit – the official notification of a potential lawsuit against a government agency – indirectly accusing Nelson of using the La Mesa lawsuit and his own internal investigation to rally voters for Bailey.

“It is highly dishonest on the part of the sheriff, who is actively supporting Bailey, to fabricate this investigation weeks before an election and file a lawsuit to obtain records from California that show no wrongdoing just so he can sow slander and doubt about the name of a good officer and cause upheaval before an election,” Harvey said.

This is not the first time Nelson has been accused of misconduct by a sheriff candidate. In 2021, Nelson was found liable for $10,000 in punitive damages after firing his former opponent Eric Kozowski a year after his 2016 election victory. In total, Kozowski was awarded $1 million in damages for the wrongful termination.

Voters may not get a final decision on the issue until after the election. It’s unclear when a final decision from the San Diego Superior Court will be announced, and hearings are already scheduled for Nov. 8, three days after the election of the next Deschutes County sheriff.

Reporter: [email protected], 541-633-2185