Officers’ lawsuit against Eugene police set for trial
EUGENE, Ore. (AP) – An ex-Eugene police officer has agreed to pay $50,000 to colleagues who sued him after he pleaded guilty in Bend in 2015 to using hidden video cameras to film them while they used bathrooms.
The Register-Guard reports (https://goo.gl/Ks4qUg ) a settlement between Jeffrey Argo and his victims was announced Tuesday, on the eve of jury selection in a civil trial that pits the city of Eugene and its police department against five of its officers and a Gresham patrolman.
Argo is serving a seven-year prison sentence and was also named as a defendant in the $1.75 million lawsuit.
The agreement resulted in officers dismissing allegations against him in exchange for the payment and his testimony at trial.
The trial now will focus on a negligence claim that alleges the city and police broke policy by not conducting a full background check on Argo.
In April 2015, Argo was sentenced by a Bend judge to seven years in prison after he pleaded guilty to 21 charges involving child pornography and invasion of privacy, the latter for cameras hidden in bathrooms to record fellow officers and teens.
The invasion of privacy counts involved miniature video cameras installed in the men’s bathroom of the Eugene Police Department and in the bathroom of a Bend home where he and other officers stayed during a retreat.
