By PHIL DAVIDSON
Copyright 2006 The Post Register
All Rights Reserved
An Idaho State Police investigation has determined a Rigby woman lied when she said she had sex with one of the city’s police officers.
However, her attorney said investigators might not have been aware of physical evidence that implicates the officer.
The Rigby Police Department received the ISP’s independent report on the investigation April 5, according to a news release issued Wednesday.
Because no criminal actions were alleged by the woman, the investigation only looked into whether the officer broke the department’s ethics policy, which could have been grounds for termination.
No policies were violated, the report concluded, and the woman ""fabricated"" the allegations against the officer.
ISP Lt. Steve Davis, who heads state police investigations in eastern Idaho, declined to comment.
The woman, whose name is being withheld, said she had sex with the on-duty officer within a few days of a Jan. 30 protection hearing for her children.
Because the children’s father - her husband - had been arrested for felony possession of methamphetamine, Magistrate Judge Michael Kennedy ruled the children were in imminent danger and placed them in the custody of the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare.
A few days after the hearing, the woman said, she and the officer had sex after he came over to help her clean her home to make it compliant with Health and Welfare’s standards. She has since been charged with misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia - by the same officer.
The woman, whose lie detector test came up inconclusive, said she vehemently disagrees with the ISP report and wants to see its findings.
""(The officer) used his position of authority to take advantage of me, and no one’s going to tell me different,"" she said. ""I’ve got proof that this happened.""
The woman said she has mental-health issues, which she thinks makes the officer’s behavior even more egregious.
She applied for mental-health court on the paraphernalia charge but chose not to participate. Eric Olson, District 7’s mental-health court coordinator, wrote a letter to Judge Kennedy on March 30 saying she might be a future candidate if she’s willing.
Her attorney, Kelly Mallard of Idaho Falls, said she turned in undergarments allegedly containing the officer’s DNA but has received no indication that the ISP tested them.
Steve Clark, the former Rigby city attorney who initially handled the case but has since resigned for unrelated reasons, said evidence was turned over to the Rigby Police Department. He, too, was unsure whether investigators received the clothing.
Rigby Police Chief Larry Anderson was out of town Wednesday and unavailable for comment.
Jefferson County officials are weighing whether to pursue charges against the woman for filing a false report, said Clark, the county’s chief criminal prosecutor.
""We are certainly considering all avenues,"" he said. ""This was a significant disruption for the officer.""
Under Idaho Code, anyone who knowingly gives a false report to any peace officer is punishable by up to one year in jail and a maximum $1,000 fine.
April 13, 2006