Police chief under probe in White Salmon,
Snohomish County
WHITE SALMON -- The city of White Salmon has
placed Bingen-White Salmon police Chief Tony Domish on paid administrative
leave pending the outcomes of two separate investigations: one in Snohomish
County where Domish used to work and the other in White Salmon.
Prior to working at either community, Domish
was police chief in Tieton, where he was reprimanded by then-Mayor Norma
Joiner, who cited "many instances" of insubordination.
He also disappeared from his Tieton job for a
week in May 2006 without telling Joiner, according to records. An investigator
for Tieton's insurance provider located Domish at work as police chief -- in
Granite Falls.
City Administrator Patrick Munyan Jr. is
serving as acting supervisor of the Bingen-White Salmon Police Department in
the interim. Munyan met with Bingen-White Salmon officers May 3 and appointed
Officer Steve Shields as acting sergeant to help with day-to-day management of
the department.
Domish became police chief in White Salmon
last June after serving as a contracted law enforcement and public safety
consultant during the six months leading up to his appointment by Mayor David
Poucher.
Munyan said he has been consulting with
Klickitat County Prosecutor and Sheriff offices about process and plans to have
an outside agency perform an audit of Domish's administration of the
Bingen-White Salmon Police Department.
"I can't go into detail because it's a
personnel matter, but we've identified a number of issues that are of concern
to us. We want someone to come in and look at the overall administrative
operations of the department," Munyan said.
Poucher told The White Salmon Enterprise that
a team of investigators from Pratham and Associates -- two retired police
chiefs and one retired state auditor -- planned to begin a two- to three-day
audit of the department.
"The investigation is to see if what is
alleged in Granite Falls is happening here (in White Salmon and Bingen),"
Poucher said. "We need to reassure the citizens that everything is fine
and, if not, we need to find out what that is and correct it."
In Snohomish County, investigators from the
Marysville Police Department filed an affidavit with Snohomish County
prosecutors two weeks ago that suggests possible malfeasance on the part of
Domish and his department between 2006 and 2010, when Domish was police chief
in Granite Falls. At issue is how money, property and evidence from drug
investigations was obtained, handled and recorded.
Munyan said the affidavit outlining
"potential criminal activity" by Domish and/or employees of the
Granite Falls department is a cause of concern for local administrators.
"We'll have to wait to see what's in the
report from Pratham and Associates," Poucher said. I don't want to
prejudge the report. We're going to move with deliberation but not until all
the facts are in."
Noted Munyan, "Whether what they did up
there was criminal or not, it shows a lack of oversight and judgment on Tony's
part."
Domish denied the allegations of wrongdoing
made by the Marysville Police Department in a May 1 interview with The Everett
Herald. He told a reporter, "I knew this (investigation) was happening, I
just didn't know it'd go this far."
Marysville detectives, who began investigating
last November at the behest of the current Granite Falls administration, allege
in their affidavit (obtained by The Herald under state public record laws) that
they found evidence to support two felony theft and misappropriation charges,
and more than a dozen counts of possible misdemeanor official misconduct.
Domish left Granite Falls in 2010 after accepting
a severance package of more than $78,000. The settlement came about after the
mayor of Granite Falls had placed Domish on paid administrative leave because
Domish had become unmanageable, according to media reports from that period.
The Herald reported that as part of that settlement, Granite Falls agreed to
drop an internal investigation of Domish, who in turn agreed to not sue the
city.
Said Domish to The Herald, "I want to be
very clear that I didn't take the settlement offer because of any concerns I
had with the investigation. The bottom line is, I didn't want to work for (the
mayor of Granite Falls) and it was a very, very difficult decision to
make."