The criminal trial for former Morton Police Chief Roger Morningstar has again been delayed, this time to the week of June 2.
A trial confirmation hearing is scheduled for 9:40 a.m. on May 29.
The delay was due to Melaleuca, the company Morningstar allegedly used city funds to make personal purchases from, having a staff retreat this month that conflicts with trial dates.
Morningstar was criminally charged Dec. 18, 2024, in Lewis County Superior Court with two counts of second-degree identity theft and one count each of third-degree theft and abuse of office for allegedly using his City of Morton credit card to purchase a total of roughly $400 in Melaleuca products between June 19, 2022, and June 10, 2023.
All the unauthorized purchases were reportedly delivered to a P.O. box in Morton that “was determined to belong to Morningstar in his personal capacity,” according to court documents.
The charges were filed after the Morton Police Department completed an investigation that began in July 2023, according to court documents.
Amended charging information was filed on Monday, Jan. 6, adding aggravating factors to the identity theft charges to allege that Morningstar “used his position of trust, confidence or fiduciary responsibility to facilitate the commission of the current offense.”
Morningstar, who was hired as Morton’s police chief in 2016, resigned from the Morton Police Department in lieu of termination on June 2, 2023, after he failed a polygraph exam related to an internal investigation into complaints of sexual harassment, misused public funds and untruthful statements on his application to the department.
Before his resignation, he had been on administrative leave since the City of Morton opened its internal investigation on May 15, 2023.
The Washington state Criminal Justice Training Commission revoked Morningstar’s peace officer certification on Dec. 6, 2023, after he failed to request a hearing to defend against the allegations.
The fraud investigation into Morningstar was separated from the fraud investigation into former City of Morton Clerk-Treasurer Tamara “Tammy” Clevenger, who pleaded guilty to a federal wire fraud charge this week for embezzling $937,548 from the city during her time as clerk-treasurer from 2012 to 2022.
Her sentencing hearing is scheduled for July 7.
Both investigations were conducted by the Washington state Auditor’s Office. The initial investigation reports were released in August 2024, at which point law enforcement agencies became involved to pursue separate criminal cases against Morningstar and Clevenger.
