Walser pleads guilty
Former Sultan police chief Fred Walser, in the midst of a state senate campaign, pleaded guilty Thursday to one count of providing false information to a public servant in connection with a 2006 investigation of an employee.
Although maintaining that he was innocent of intentionally giving false information, Walser took the plea to avoid an expensive legal process, he said.
The case stems from a 2005 incident in which a neighbor of Walser's assistant Caroline Pepperrel accused her of unlawful harassment using police-only computers. The charge was sufficiently serious to lead Walser to request that the sheriff's office conduct an investigation. A detective found a police computer access log that showed that Pepperell had been logged in during the hours in question, in which someone had run a search of the neighbor's name. That information was turned over to Walser, who was told that it was up to him to follow up on the matter.
A month later, Pepperell's neighbor asked for the computer records herself, and Walser provided the city with a log from the day in question, but it didn't show Pepperell was logged on. Then the neighbor requested that police turn over computer hard drives. The city of Sultan decided that a second investigation was required. So they involved the Washington State Patrol, the agency that usually oversees investigations of other police departments.
A state patrol investigator reported that Walser denied having learned that Pepperell had been logged on to the computer the day someone searched the neighbor's name.
Investigators then looked at the log Walser had supplied and concluded that it wasn't the correct log, according to the investigation report.
There was a lot of tension at the time between Walser and Ben Tolson, who was then mayor of Sultan, and Tolson had been vocal in his determination to oust Walser. Walser believes that is why Tolson then encouraged the city to conduct an internal investigation of him.
A Wenatchee attorney carried out the investigation of Walser, during which Walser produced the original computer log record provided by the sheriff's investigator, a report he said he had simply misplaced. Shortly thereafter, Walser announced that he would retire.
The city of Sultan decided to launch a criminal investigation of Walser anyway. The investigation concluded that Walser had withheld the information deliberately to protect a valued employee.
So the case was forwarded to Whatcom County prosecutors (Walser is too well known in the law enforcement community to proceed in Snohomish County).
In the mean time, Pepperell was fired, but a judge later concluded that although she did misuse the computer, the firing was too drastic. The judge ordered her reinstated her to her post. Walser also announced his candidacy for a state senate seat.
Whatcom county prosecutors filed one charge against Walser, of providing false information to a public servant, on May 8.
Walser initially vowed to fight the charge with a not-guilty plea, but changed his mind, he said, when faced with the expense of a legal battle.
The failure to hand over the sheriff's report was an honest mistake, he said, but said that he takes responsibility for having forgotten about that report. "I have to accept the consequences for my actions," he said.
A Whatcom County judge ordered him to serve 240 hours of community service and pay the city of Sultan a $20,000 fine.
That is still less burdensome than the cost of the trial would have been, said Walser. "The cost of the trial would have been enormous, more than I can afford," said Walser. "It would have been about $50,000 or $60,000, according to my lawyers."
And a trial wold have taken time away from his campaign, and perhaps wouldn't have gone his way anyway, he said.
"My lawyer said because I did misplace the file, I had some exposure," he said. "I talked it over with Donnetta (his wife, and the mayor of Monroe), and with some other people, and they said I should just get it behind me."
He will still oppose three-term state senator Val Stevens (R-Arlington) in the November election, he said.
The conviction will present a challenge, but it is not insurmountable, he said, saying the matter was overblown, and was the result of an internal city dispute between Walser and the former mayor Ben Tolson. "Misplacing a sheriff's report doesn't constitute a major crime in my book," he said. "I'm just disappointed it even got this far."
Some of his constituents agree that the investigation went too far. "I think it could have been handled a whole lot better," said Kate Roesler, a Sultan florist and mink rancher. "Did Fred forget to give something or turn over something? Looks like it. But it sure got blown out of proportion."
It doesn't undo 40 years in law enforcement and a strong track record of service to citizens, Walser said. "I've been successful in just about everything I've done," he said. "I chaired the East County Emergency Medical Sercies Committee at Valley General Hospital and we were responsible for bringing paramedic service out here in 1977, that's how far back I go."
He also supported the Boys and Girls club, especially that in Sultan, sat on the Snohomish County Health and Safety Network, founded and continues to chair the U.S. Highway 2 Safety Coalition, and helped bring a skate park to Sultan.
It's that commitment to public service that keeps motivated him to seek higher office, he said.
"Highway 2 needs drastic attention," he said. "So does HIghway 9. So does education. That's why I'm doing this in retirement. I can't just sit around."
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