Charge filed against fired police officer involved in wrongful arrest
A fired West Linn, Oregon police sergeant has been criminally charged for his involvement in the wrongful arrest of a black man in 2017, according to the Oregon Department of Justice.
Oregon Public Broadcasting reported this week that the state Department of Justice has charged Anthony Reeves with first degree official misconduct, a misdemeanor, following the arrest of Michael Fesser.
The Clackamas County District Attorney’s Office discovered that Reeves colluded with former Chief Terry Timeus to arrest Fesser in favor of Eric Benson, Fesser’s then-boss.
Fesser had previously complained about a hostile workplace, citing incidents of racism directed at him.
“It appears that (the West Linn Police Department’s) involvement in this investigation was prompted by Chief Timeus’ personal friendship with Mr. Benson,” the Clackamas County District Attorney’s inquest said.
The DA’s investigation found that Reeves was illegally surveilling Fesser, exchanging and deleting racist texts with Fesser’s boss, and withholding evidence.
In 2020, the city of West Linn agreed to pay Fesser $600,000 to settle a lawsuit. Benson and his company, A&B Towing, paid Fesser $415,000 to settle a discrimination and retaliation lawsuit. The city of West Linn fired Reeves in 2020 after the district attorney said he would not call him as a witness in any cases he was investigating.
Reeves’ attorney, David Lesh, did not respond to messages seeking comment from The Oregonian/OregonLive. No court date has been set for his appearance on the charge, the newspaper reported.
