Challenger Kozowski weighs in on latest DCSO investigation

Deschutes County sheriff’s Lt. Robert Trono was placed on paid administrative leave Friday for undisclosed “allegations of violating sheriff’s office policies” that came to light as federal investigators looked into complaints over building a firearm for a co-worker while off-duty. Sheriff Shane Nelson announced.

Here’s the rest of the statement issued late Friday afternoon by Nelson:

“Effective today, Lt. Robert Trono was placed on paid administrative leave for allegations of violating Sheriff’s Office policies.

“Lt. Trono was placed on leave after new information came to the attention of Command Staff from an investigation that started in June. Our office will review this through an administrative investigation.

“Because our investigation into this matter is on-going and these allegations must be thoroughly investigated to determine the outcome, I am limited in what I will share.

“I originally became aware of alleged policy violations by Lt. Trono on June 3, 2016 when our office was notified by ATF that they wanted to conduct an inquiry into an employee regarding potential violations of whether he needed to obtain a federal firearms license to build a firearm for a co-worker while off duty.

“We were informed that they received an anonymous complaint, as well as a named complaint in April 2016. On June 8, 2016, ATF came to our office and completed the inquiry on Lt. Robert Trono and advised our office that this was “not a prosecutable violation”. ATF did not open a case on this and will not be looking into this incident any further.

“As I have said in the past, as your Sheriff, if there is an issue within this organization, I will take care of business and do the right thing.

“We have faced challenging issues and, in response, we have added layers of oversight to help us identify, investigate and address issues within the Sheriff’s Office.

“Right now, we are continuing to work through a period of change. We remain committed to doing the right thing and to being as transparent as possible with the citizens we serve.”

On Saturday, Nelson’s election challenger, sheriff’s Deputy Eric Kozowski, responded to NewsChannel 21’s request for a comment with the following statement:

“This latest investigation of a member of the Sheriff’s Office command staff is highly disappointing to me. This is the fourth member of the command staff in the last year to face an internal and/or criminal investigation. My opponent has said a number of times, “I look forward to continuing Sheriff Blanton’s legacy.” Not only has he has delivered on that statement, former Sheriff Blanton has endorsed him.

“These continuing leadership failures are a symptom of the underlying culture that is in serious need of reform and it speaks to one of the reasons I decided to run for Sheriff.

“The question I ask the voters in Deschutes County is when is enough, enough? It is time to bring much needed leadership reform to the Sheriff’s Office – reform the citizens and employees are demanding. As Sheriff, I will bring this needed leadership reform, along with other changes that will use tax money more efficiently and improve public safety. The voters in Deschutes County have a choice – continue the
legacy or vote for change and reform.”