“There will be uncomfortable questions today,” Lewis County Republican Party Chair Greg Rohr said to open up the second Lewis County sheriff candidate forum of the week.
“Our job as a Republican Party is to ask those questions in order for all of us to have the best information to make the choice,” he said. “They’re not going to be uncomfortable for any one candidate. They’ll be uncomfortable for all candidates.”
Despite polite behavior, there were indeed plenty of “uncomfortable questions” at a Saturday Lewis County sheriff candidate forum hosted by the Lewis County Republican Party at the former Olympic Elementary School in Chehalis.
All four candidates were on hand, including Lewis County Sheriff’s Office Special Services Chief Gabriel Frase, Lewis County Sheriff’s Office deputy Danny Riordan, Chehalis Deputy Police Chief Matt McKnight and former Centralia Police Department Sergeant Tracy Murphy.
Just like a similar event in Adna held on Thursday, June 11, the circumstances of Murphy’s recent termination from the Centralia Police Department were a frequent topic.
The event featured some tense moments between candidates, including one between Murphy and Rohr, who served as moderator.
With one of the few audience questions asked during the roughly two-hour long event, Lewis County resident Julie Balmelli-Powe asked if the candidates would be willing to investigate any of the allegations included in an infamous and anonymous Washington state Criminal Justice Training Commission (CJTC) complaint.
The now well-known complaint alleged that Murphy made “repeated statements” that Lewis County Sheriff Rob Snaza “acquires and protects cocaine dealers” who distribute cocaine to Lewis County Commissioner Sean Swope, Washington state Rep. Peter Abbarno and The Chronicle Publisher Chad Taylor.
The complaint led to an internal investigation initiated by Centralia Police Chief Andy Caldwell. Though the original allegations against Murphy were not sustained by the third-party investigator, Murphy was accused of being dishonest in interviews conducted during the investigation. He was fired by Caldwell on April 29.
The candidates each answered along similar lines, stating that credible allegations of recent criminal activity should be investigated. Some added other nuances, with Frase clarifying that outdated civil complaints would likely not be investigated. Riordan assured the crowd that the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office was very responsible when carrying out internal investigations.
A moment of mild tension came after the candidates had answered, as Rohr intervened in an attempt to add context to the discussion. He appeared to claim that underlying allegations against Snaza had been investigated and not yet yielded any results.
“These allegations against Snaza and others have been investigated by the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation),” Rohr said. “Have been looked at by other law enforcement agencies outside of our county, and there’s been no finding.”
Murphy interjected quickly, pushing back against Rohr. Murphy conceded that to his knowledge the FBI knew of some of the allegations made against Snaza and others, but said the agency was not wholly informed and that no thorough investigation into Snaza had been done.
“Is the FBI aware of some stuff and looked into some stuff? Yes,” Murphy said. “Do they have all the information? No. All the information wasn’t provided to them. So to say that they’ve actually done a thorough investigation, that’s not true.”
Seemingly confused, the two exchanged brief remarks and interrupted each other as Rohr asked if Murphy was “casting allegations.”
Murphy maintained a previous statement that any claim that “everything has been investigated” was not true.
The Chronicle was not able to independently confirm that the FBI has conducted an investigation into allegations against Snaza or any purported associates. According to previous reporting by The Chronicle and public records related to a recent investigation into Murphy, a related 2023 case was previously referred to the FBI.
No public record is available to verify that the FBI has investigated the most recent CJTC complaint from earlier this year or that it has been assigned for investigation within the state.
The recent internal investigation into Murphy did not investigate the validity of the allegations against a number of local officials and prominent members of the community. Rather, it investigated the claims against Murphy included in the complaint, namely if he had been investigating Snaza, if that investigation had been politically motivated and improperly disclosed to individuals outside the police department, and if he had been forthcoming with his superiors in the Centralia Police Department during the internal investigation.
During the internal investigation, the investigator found evidence that Murphy had not been forthcoming during the interviews, leading to his termination from the department after a 30-year career. Murphy maintains, and did so again Saturday, that he was wrongfully terminated and only withheld information he claims he could not disclose due to his service with the United States Drug Enforcement Administration.
Another mild moment of confrontation came earlier in the session as candidates discussed Brady letters and whether they could impact the duties of a Lewis County sheriff. “Brady letter” is a familiar term used to refer to a “potential impeachment disclosure.” The letters issued to some law enforcement officers are intended to disclose conduct that might impact their credibility in court.
The candidates generally agreed that a Brady letter was unlikely to impact the sheriff the same way it would impact other officers, pointing out that a sheriff is rarely called into court for individual cases. Frase and McKnight, however, said they believed it would have a negative impact on community trust if the active sheriff had a Brady letter.
“The big issue I see has to do with trust with the community and trust with the people that they’re allegedly trying to lead,” Frase said.
In his own response, Murphy said he didn’t believe that a Brady letter would affect an active sheriff at all, pointing to local law enforcement officers who have Brady letters and still participate in cases against alleged criminals. As part of his example, Murphy referred to an unnamed Chehalis police officer who was allowed to participate in the local Joint Narcotics Enforcement Team despite having a Brady letter.
McKnight offered a rebuttal to the response in defense of the unnamed Chehalis police officer, arguing that the circumstances surrounding the officer’s Brady letter were an exception to the rule. McKnight instead insisted that despite that exception Brady letters could still have a serious impact on an officer’s career.
“To say that it makes no difference isn’t true,” McKnight said. “(Prosecutor) Jonathan Meyer wrote him a letter of recommendation to put him back into JNET. It’s not the same. It’s not the same, Tracy.”
Murphy’s response was jumbled, but appeared to question the validity of his own Brady letter. He earlier briefly stated that he believed his Brady letter would be retracted as he challenged his termination from the Centralia Police Department.
Candidates appeared to dive deeper into the subject of Brady letters and into the specifics of the recent events concerning Murphy and his termination Saturday morning as both moderators and audience members asked more pointed questions on the subjects.
The candidates similarly discussed the issues on Thursday in Adna, but to a lesser degree. Murphy at one point fielded a loaded question during that event concerning the case and community trust. No such questions were leveled this time around.
For previous reporting by The Chronicle on the Adna event, visit https://tinyurl.com/55rmpmzt.
For previous reporting concerning Murphy’s termination and the related investigation, visit https://tinyurl.com/yav2ajme.
