A Ferndale Police Department officer who has been sued twice in federal court was placed on paid administrative leave for the second time in less than a year while the department conducts an investigation into his alleged actions.
Michael Scott Langton, 46, was arrested Tuesday for allegedly soliciting a minor, according to previous reporting in The Bellingham Herald.
Langton, who has been with the department since Aug. 30, 2012, was placed on paid administrative leave July 26, while the department conducts an internal affairs investigation based on the criminal acts Langton is accused of, Riley Sweeney, a spokesperson for the city of Ferndale, previously told The Herald.
Langton's salary is $98,810 per year. He was previously employed with the Blaine Police Department.
Less than a year ago, on Oct. 4, 2021, Langton was placed on paid administrative leave after he allegedly contacted a far-right extremist group roughly a month after members of the group were involved in the deadly U.S. Capitol insurrection in January 2021.
The city started an internal affairs investigation into the claims that were first reported by Buzzfeed News.
On Feb. 4, 2021, someone identifying themself as Scott Langton sent an email to the Oath Keepers' Washington state email address allegedly looking for information about the group.
"To whom it may concern, I'm a current WA State Police Officer looking for information. I'm not looking to be on some Liberal hit list. Whatcom County WA.," the email reads.
The emails were obtained by McClatchy after an anonymous hacker gathered data from the Oath Keepers and released it to the transparency organization Distributed Denial of Secrets, which posted much of the data publicly online.
The Oath Keepers are a far-right paramilitary group consisting of former or current members of the U.S. armed forces and law enforcement. The group's anti-government extremist beliefs and ideology encourage its members to disobey orders that they believe violate the U.S. Constitution.
Oath Keepers' members traffic in unfounded conspiracy theories linked to white supremacist tenets, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League.
More than a dozen members are facing charges in connection with the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. Numerous local, state and national government and elected officials have also been linked to being a member of the group, according to ProPublica.
The city of Ferndale became aware Oct. 1 that Langton allegedly sent the inquiring email and placed him on leave "due to the nature of this group," The Herald previously reported.
Ferndale police "concluded this investigation as unfounded," and Langton returned to duty less than a month after he was placed on leave, on Oct. 29.
He was able to return to duty "since no violation of policy or law occurred," Sweeney, the city spokesperson, previously told The Herald.
The city said in November 2021 that it planned to review and update its policies and trainings related to "subversive or controversial organizations," and that it would create new and specific policies related to joining organizations of a controversial nature.
When previously asked how the department defined "unfounded," whether it was determined that Langton had in fact contacted the Oath Keepers, or how many complaints or investigations Langton has been a subject of since his time with Ferndale police, Sweeney declined to comment and directed The Herald to file a public records request.
The Herald has asked for more information related to how many times in total Langton has been placed on paid administrative leave while he's been with the department.
In the last decade, Langton has been sued twice for allegedly violating people's civil rights while doing his job, according to federal court records.
Langton was first sued in September 2013 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington in Seattle for an incident that allegedly occurred in June 2011 while he was a Blaine police officer.
A Whatcom County man alleged that Langton used excessive force while arresting him without probable cause after a dispute between neighbors, court records show.
The case was dismissed and settled out of court in December 2014.
Langton was also sued in Whatcom County Superior Court in August 2020 for allegedly stopping a woman for a traffic offense but with the alleged goal of investigating her for other drug crimes.
The lawsuit claimed Langton purposely delayed citing the woman for a traffic offense so a police dog could search the woman's car, the court records state.
The case was moved out of Whatcom County Superior Court and into federal court in September of 2020.
Records show it was settled out of court and dismissed April 12.
