On Aug. 16, the Multnomah County Sheriff's
Office began investigating a former Linn County sheriff's
deputy who was hired to co-manage Multnomah County's new
residential drug- and alcohol-treatment program.
Howard Salyer was placed on paid administrative leave
by Multnomah County on Aug. 9 pending results of an
inquiry into charges of sexual misconduct which led
to his resignation from the Linn County Sheriff's Department
last fall. According to documents obtained by Willamette
Week, Salyer quit his lieutenant's job in November
minutes after admitting to having had a sexual relationship
with a female subordinate.
Salyer was hired in April by the Multnomah County Department
of Juvenile and Adult Community Justice to be a co-manager
at Interchange, a treatment center scheduled to open
in October. Elyse Clawson, the department's executive
director, says Salyer told her agency about some aspects
of the relationship before he was hired. Ginger Martin,
manager of Multnomah County's drug and alcohol services,
says that once Salyer realized that he was "a serious
candidate" for the job, he admitted to having had a
consensual sexual relationship with his subordinate.
But Clawson says new information recently came to light
which prompted her to ask Sheriff Dan Noelle to look
into the matter. The investigation is not criminal in
nature, Noelle says.
Pressed as to what that new information might be, Clawson
said that her department has new information that makes
her question whether the relationship was truly consensual.
Those same questions are raised by two official personnel
memos signed by Linn County Sheriff David K. Burright.
Clawson says those memos, obtained by WW through
the state's public records law, were never provided
to Multnomah County officials. The memos state that
Salyer quit his $54,672 per year supervisory post Nov.
12 after being confronted by Burright about the relationship
with the woman.
According to a memo dated Nov. 12, Burright received
a call from Undersheriff Dave Severns the evening of
Nov. 11 informing him that a female employee of the
department had admitted having sex with Salyer during
a corrections conference.
At 7:30 am the next day, she met with Burright and
Severns in the Sheriff's office.
According to the Nov. 12 memo, the woman--whose name
was blacked out of the documents provided to WW--said
she had been disciplined by an unidentified party about
her handling of a personnel matter. Following that incident,
the memo says, Lt. Salyer told her she "should not worry"
and that he "would take care of her." Then he told her
"how nice she looked." This "type of activity continued
leading up to the conference," the memo states. In a
second memo, dated Nov. 30, Burright characterizes Salyer's
actions as "'grooming' her to lead up to the seduction."
The Nov. 12 memo says that following the conference,
Salyer suggested that the woman "would be the recipient
of a future promotion to sergeant" and that he might
join the state's Department of Corrections "at which
time he would take her with him."
When Burright confronted Salyer with department policies
that forbid such behavior, Salyer resigned. The memos
do not contain Salyer's opinion of how the relationship
began and developed, nor to they explain the woman's
duties within the department. WW was unable to
contact Salyer.
Given Salyer's history, why would Multnomah County's
probation and parole agency hire Salyer four months
later to a post where he would supervise 11 people?
Martin says she talked to 10 people in Linn County,
both in out of law enforcement, and asked them "direct
questions" about Salyer's relationship with the woman.
She says she hired Salyer because he was described to
her as a "model employee," who had made a huge mistake
and was trying to get on with his life. She says that
Salyer had described the relationship as "romantic"
and that it "had been developing over time."
Both Martin and Clawson claim they have not seen the
memos, and Martin says that Burright, with whom she
spoke by phone during the background check, never told
her about contents of the memos.
Burright won't discuss most details of Salyer's relationship
or the background check. But he says that he verbally
provided someone, other than Clawson or Martin, with
precise information about Salyer's relationship during
the background check. "There is no misinformation from
my standpoint," he says.
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Willamette Week | originally
published August 18,
1999
