Former Benton sheriff clears legal hurdle, but fallout after his recall could cost millions
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Sheriff Hatcher Legal Troubles
A look at the legal troubles faced by former Benton County Sheriff Jerry Hatcher
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A former sheriff has avoided one legal headache, but the fallout from his recall continues to plague Benton County.
Former Sheriff Jerry Hatcher has reached an agreement with the Washington Public Disclosure Commission after he failed to file his elected official financial disclosure documents on time.
The settlement halts any further action that was possible at an enforcement hearing set this week.
Hatcher, who was recalled from office in 2021, did not file his last financial disclosure with the state, despite requirements to do so even though he is no longer in office. The disclosure would have been for the partial year he held elected office in 2021.
PDC Deputy Director Kim Bradford told the Herald that Hatcher contacted the commission and came to an agreement which will see him file the missing report, pay a $100 fee and sign a Statement of Understanding acknowledging he failed to file the report within the required time.
Lawsuit
Meanwhile, a lawsuit brought by members of Hatcher’s former command staff against Benton County is moving forward.
They are alleging the county failed to do enough to stop Hatcher’s mistreatment of employees.
The lawsuit does not ask for specific damages but the original tort claim by the men was for $22 million.
A tort claim lawsuit is similar to a civil suit, but requires aggrieved parties to first file a claim against the governmental body they are suing before they can file a formal lawsuit. Sometimes a public agency will settle the claim before it goes to court.
Last summer the former and current officers filed tort claim notices, which Benton County had 60 days to respond to or deny. The county denied the claims.
The lawsuit, which was initially filed in Walla Walla County in April in order to avoid a conflict of interest, has been moved to U.S. District Court in Richland and is assigned to Chief Judge Stanley Bastian.
Bastian has set a pretrial hearing for May 2023, with a tentative jury trial start date for June 2023.
In the county’s response, they acknowledged and did not dispute Hatcher’s mistreatment of employees, but argued they had neither the means or ability to hold him accountable. The county said that the proper recourse was the successful recall process.
The county is asking the court to dismiss the lawsuit.
Mistreatment claims
Hatcher is not listed as a party in the lawsuit. When it was initially filed in April, Commissioner Jerome Delvin questioned why the officers did not file against Hatcher directly.
The officers suing include Undersheriff Jon Law; Commander Mat Clarke; Lt. Jason Erickson; Lt. Erik Magnuson; now-retired Commander Steve Caughey; and former Detective Todd Carlson.
The current and former employees, five of whom have served as sheriff’s department supervisors, say county leaders did not do enough after they filed whistleblower complaints and brought up allegations involving their boss.
The men filed individual claims in May 2021, and put the litigation on pause later in the summer as the recall election process began.
Hatcher was successfully recalled last August, and Tom Croskrey was appointed to replace him in September. Commander Law served as acting sheriff between the recall and Croskrey’s appointment.
Croskrey was initially a plaintiff in the lawsuit, but has since had himself removed in order to focus on his duties as sheriff.
Croskrey was at one point considered Hatcher’s “right hand man” before resigning in June 2020 after submitting a hostile work environment complaint to the county’s human resources manager.
He said at the time that Hatcher’s “horrible leadership and fraud” and “anger and hostility” had affected his own health and well-being greatly.
Croskrey is currently running unopposed for his first full term as sheriff.
