Sheriff’s sergeant begins jail term

A former Okanogan County sheriff’s sergeant began serving a 30-day sentence this week for stealing equipment from a school.

Richard Paul Waters turned 37 in the county jail Tuesday, where he is being kept in isolation to protect him from other inmates.

Waters pleaded guilty Oct. 4 in Okanogan County Superior Court to second-degree theft.

Visiting Grant County Deputy Prosecutor Edward Owens agreed to drop a second-degree burglary charge.

Owens said it was questionable whether he could have gotten a conviction on the burglary charge because Waters and other sheriff’s officers had permission to be in the Winthrop-area school where the theft occurred last spring.

The Sheriff’s Office has an office in the Liberty Bell Junior-Senior School, and officers are allowed to use other portions of the building, Owens said.

Waters admitted stealing a flat-panel computer monitor, an air compressor and a digital camera from the school.

He cooperated with investigators, and the stolen goods were found at his home.

Owens called for a maximum standard 60-day sentence, with 30 days converted to community service, while Waters suggested 30 days of electronically monitored house arrest. Okanogan County Superior Court Judge Jack Burchard imposed 30 days, all to be served in the county jail.

Waters agreed to surrender his peace officer’s certificate, which eventually would have been canceled anyway because of his conviction, Owens said.

Waters resigned from the Sheriff’s Office when he was charged.

Owens said he thinks Burchard gave Waters credit for being cooperative, but Waters also sought leniency based on what he said was an adverse reaction to medicine he had been taking for depression. Waters told the judge he had recently lost his father.

Okanogan County Prosecutor Karl Sloan asked Owens to handle the case to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest.