Documents: DCSO sergeant fired for racial comments

(Update: More details from documents)

Deschutes County Sheriff Shane Nelson fired a former patrol sergeant over racial comments he made during a patrol team briefing, according to documents from an internal investigation obtained Wednesday by NewsChannel 21.

Dan Bilyeu was fired back on April 20 after the internal investigation found Bilyeu violated agency policies.

In a termination letter to Bilyeu, Sheriff Shane Nelson wrote that “based on the serious nature of the sustained policy violations, your job performance, and your explanation in the investigation, I have lost confidence in your ability to exercise good judgment, to perform the required duties of a deputy.”

According to the documents, Bilyeu referred to former President Barack Obama in a racial context, as they were discussing possible protests during President’s Day.

The sheriff’s office looked into three alleged incidents involving Bilyeu. The first happened on February 4, where Bilyeu said in front of deputies he supervised that a mandatory meeting called by Sheriff Nelson had been a waste of time and cost him money.

On Feb 12, a deputy reported Bilyeu was rude and harassed him while responding to a crime scene.

Eight days later, several employees reported Bilyeu used a racial slur, referring to former President Barack Obama.

The investigation found Bilyeu was insubordinate to authority and violated several policies, including harassment and discrimination.

“It’s one thing to have political free speech and your own personal opinions but when you start talking with derogatory terms that’s unacceptable,” Nelson said Wednesday.

On May 10th , NewsChannel 21 reported the findings that led to the firing of corrections Lt. Robert Trono, who was found to have been causing a hostile work environment for other workers and violated sheriff’s policies including harassment and discrimination.

Bilyeu wrote a written response about these allegations, saying one of the deputies who filed the complaint “had an ax to grind with him.”

He went on to say, “As many of the complaints seem to stem from incidents that we both were involved with, I also find it funny that someone with his reputation as a patrol deputy would be critical of others.”

Bilyeu said in the statement he didn’t like President Obama and has been vocal about the anti-law enforcement stance and rhetoric.

He admitted he did make the inappropriate comment about the former president but added that “for others to portray me as a racist is just wrong.”

“I don’t have any history of racial complaints and judge everyone by their character and nothing else,” he said.

The investigations into Lieutenant Tim Leak and patrol Deputy Eric Kozowski are still ongoing.