Editor's note: This article has been updated with comments from Tracy Murphy received by The Chronicle on Friday after publication of the article.
New information from a Toledo resident and local political candidate adds potential evidence to claims that Tracy Murphy made false statements during the investigation that led to his termination.
Kyle Wheeler provided screenshots of messages between himself and Murphy’s wife, Sherri Murphy, that Centralia Police Chief Andy Caldwell says serve as evidence that the Murphys helped Winlock-based newspaper editor Lynette Hoffman file a Criminal Justice Training Commission complaint against Sheriff Rob Snaza after the 2022 Lewis County sheriff race.
Tracy Murphy lost to Snaza in the election. He remains a candidate for the office after being fired April 29.
Last week, documents obtained by The Chronicle showed that Port of Centralia Commissioner Ally Pickard came forward after Murphy’s firing with messages between herself and Sherri Murphy discussing Snaza and aspects of the claims in question.
(View the documents: An online hub of documents linked to the Tracy Murphy case and obtained by The Chronicle has been updated with new documents and audio from the investigation as of May 28. Find those files here: https://tinyurl.com/357mhwfw )
Now, a memorandum from Caldwell, released to The Chronicle on Thursday morning, included a message from Wheeler to the Criminal Justice Training Commission that provides a similar story to that shared by Pickard.
"I'm the first to admit I struggle with a distaste for the political club named in that complaint, but right is right here,” Wheeler wrote. “I was personally told by Sherri Murphy that they helped Lynette (Hoffman) write and submit 23-363 which given the reference to this drug ring in both that prior and this recent complaint, feels like it validates this recent one about Murphy saying similar things elsewhere. I recognize I'm just armchair oversight down here but I feel gross sitting with this knowledge and not saying something to someone …”
Hoffman is the editor of the Lewis County News, a weekly publication based in Winlock. The complaint allegedly crafted by Hoffman and the Murphys is included in the documents attached above. (Of Winlock’s Lewis County News, PDC says line between ads and stories ‘not clear’: https://shorturl.at/LQ4uO)
After the publication of this article, on Friday afternoon, Tracy Murphy wrote to The Chronicle requesting a retraction and denying any involvement with the anonymous complaint.
"The article reports, either directly or by implication, that I participated in drafting, preparing, assisting with, or filing that complaint. Any such claims are false," Tracy Murphy wrote. "I had no involvement in writing, drafting, editing, reviewing, submitting, or otherwise participating in the creation or filing of the CJTC complaint. The complaint was authored and submitted entirely by another individual."
Snaza’s name is redacted in the anonymous complaint, attached above, but the overall context of the messages makes his identity clear.
From Caldwell's memorandum obtained by The Chronicle: “After Wheeler posted on Facebook that Sherri Murphy and Lynette Hoffman were the source of the anonymous complaint (23-363), Wheeler explained that Sherri Murphy sent him a private message stating, ‘Kyle, I am broken-hearted that you would violate my trust.’ Wheeler replied, ‘It was unfair to expect me to hold that for you particularly with all that it is causing. I have similarly been struggling with my own brokenhearted feelings while watching this all. I still feel it is the right thing for the community sake and hope we can move beyond it again some day.’"
Caldwell included the following summary in a memorandum on the new information May 20: “Based on the totality of what Wheeler offered, it is reasonable to conclude that Sherri Murphy and Lynette Hoffman created anonymous complaint 23-636. It is also reasonable to conclude that Tracy Murphy's knowledge of this case, which he said he worked on (p. 15 of Murphy's first statement), was discussed with the authors of the anonymous complaint 23-363. This corroborates the information provided by Ally Pickard that Tracy Murphy's March 23 statement, that he did not discuss information linking to any drug activity outside JNET or the Centralia Police Department is another false and misleading statement.”
Murphy was fired from the Centralia Police Department on April 29 by Caldwell. His termination followed an administrative investigation regarding allegations that Murphy had implicated Snaza and prominent county Republicans in a cocaine operation.
The original allegations, made through an anonymous complaint with the Washington state Criminal Justice Training Commission (CJTC), were ultimately not sustained by the investigator.
The investigator did conclude, however, that Murphy made false statements while omitting material information during interviews conducted during the internal investigation, specifically on whether he had investigated or discussed the allegations included in the anonymous complaint publicly outside of his oversight of the Joint Narcotics Enforcement Team (JNET).
Murphy told The Chronicle on April 30 that the hangup pertained to a non-disclosure agreement he’d signed with the DEA prohibiting him from disclosing information without authorization.
Murphy, in his role with JNET, also operated as a deputized DEA agent.
Editor’s note: An online hub of documents linked to the Tracy Murphy case and obtained by The Chronicle has been updated with new documents and audio from the investigation as of May 28. Find those files here: https://tinyurl.com/357mhwfw
For background on the case, see the links below:
