Since October 2024, Rob Snaza’s Lewis County Sheriffs Office has had two officers affiliated with its agency surrender their certifications related to sexual assault and domestic violence incidents after survivors were incredibly brave to come forward.
A third officer with Rob Snaza’s Lewis County Sheriff’s Office also reached a settlement agreement for prior extremist affiliations recently and will receive additional training and a four-year probationary period as part of the terms of that agreement. This officer still has other pending concerns not affected by that order, some of which relate to another sexual assault investigation of another officer previously working for the city of Morton.
The state’s final orders for the three referenced determinations since October are publicly available at cjtc.app.box.com/v/2024-0012773-Solberg-Joseph, cjtc.app.box.com/v/23-362-Humphrey and cjtc.app.box.com/v/C22-131-Willey.
I’m still waiting for Snaza to resign as previously requested earlier this year when, as an active Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission commissioner, he misspoke about one of these issues prior to its resolution and while disrespecting the commission’s processes in order to do so.
The apple does not rot far from the tree, and at some point Lewis County and others must face the root here: Snaza’s cultivation of the culture at his department that ultimately led to these determinations.
Kyle Wheeler
Toledo
