Harassment investigator steps down

The original investigator hired by Kootenai County to look into sexual harassment allegations against the county’s chief deputy prosecutor has stepped down because of a perceived conflict of interest.

Joseph A. Wright, a former Idaho County deputy prosecutor, quit before the independent investigation even got started earlier this month because of concerns that he attended the University of Idaho law school with Rick Baughman – the chief deputy prosecutor who is the focus of the investigation.

Two former female colleagues have accused Baughman of ongoing sexual harassment, including inappropriate touching, lewd comments and offers of dates. This accusation sparked the independent investigation and the involvement of the county’s insurer, Idaho Counties Risk Management Program.

The investigator, and perhaps the county’s insurer, is also reviewing sexually explicit e-mails and attachments that Baughman sent to the alleged victims and numerous other county employees. One of the accusers, Laura Bonneville, also sent lewd e-mails to Baughman.

Idaho County sheriff’s Detective Joan Renshaw, who was working with Wright, also is off the case. Renshaw didn’t return phone calls.

County Attorney Erika Grubbs refused to name the new independent investigator and added that the county may never release the name, even after the investigation is complete.

“We do not want anyone to interfere with this investigator’s process,” Grubbs said. “When the investigation is concluded, we may or may not provide that name.”

Yet Grubbs said the new investigator didn’t go to school with Baughman and doesn’t know him or have any association with him.

Grubbs said the county legal department and Prosecutor Bill Douglas, along with the county’s insurer, were involved in selecting the new investigator, who may have a report by next week.

That’s also how Wright, a Grangeville attorney, was chosen.

In interviews with the county, Wright disclosed that he was in law school with Baughman and knew of Douglas from attending prosecutors’ conferences. Yet he told the county officials he wasn’t friends with Baughman and that they had never socialized.

At the time, the county didn’t view it as a conflict. Grubbs said Wright was recommended by the county’s insurer as having done “very good, thorough sexual harassment investigations in the past.”

Wright quit after “he took so much heat for being the investigator,” Grubbs said, referring to media reports that publicized that Wright had attended law school with Baughman.

Baughman and Wright were two years apart in law school. Both were admitted to practice law in Idaho in 1991.

“Mr. Wright shared with the county that he wanted this investigation to be impartial, objective and have no appearances of impropriety,” Grubbs said. “So the decision was made for him not to go forward with the investigation.”

In a voice mail message left with The Spokesman-Review, Wright referred all questions about the investigation to the Kootenai County prosecutor’s office.

Douglas also refused to name the new investigator because he doesn’t want “to put that person under any pressure.”

“It’s a very, very highly qualified person,” Douglas said.