Document details investigation of discrimination complaints by former Plains officer

A state investigation regarding claims of discrimination and retaliation against a former Plains Police officer were among the documents submitted by local business owner Matthew Jaramillo to the Plains Town Council at its last meeting when he questioned the integrity of the police chief.

Jaramillo submitted copies of the report and other email communications before questioning whether Police Chief Brian Josephson had misused his authority since taking the leadership role in 2023. At the meeting, Jaramillo said the Montana Department of Labor and Industry Human Rights Bureau's investigation "paints a deeply troubling picture of misconduct, abuse of power and actions that undermine the trust and integrity required by this position."

Carla Lott, an investigator with the state Human Rights Bureau, issued the report May 28, in which she found "reasonable cause to believe unlawful discrimination occurred" regarding the dismissal of former officer Chris Reyna, who worked with the department from 2016 to 2023.

Reyna had alleged that he was subjected to a hostile work environment, that he was discriminated against based on his Hispanic national origin and ultimately retaliated against for filing complaints.

Plains denied the claims and countered that Reyna’s employment was terminated due, in part, to Reyna failing to follow directives and due to allegations he made against the police chief that they said were unfounded.

The bureau's report dismissed Reyna's hostile workplace complaint because it wasn't filed within the state-mandated 180 days from the alleged incident.

Lott did investigate the discrimination and retaliation claims, saying the connection between Reyna’s complaints and actions taken by Plains "raises a reasonable inference that it treated Reyna differently" because he filed a complaint against the chief.

During his interview with Lott, Reyna walked back his assertion that he was discriminated against due to his national origin. He said he never heard comments within the department about his being Hispanic.

Reyna told Lott, “Looking back, I don’t think there was race discrimination in the department.” 

The report zeroes in on the town's request that Sanders County Sheriff's Office Detective Martin Spring conduct an internal investigation of Reyna's complaints. 

While using an impartial third party to conduct an internal investigation is normal, Lott notes that Spring is a longtime colleague and friend of Josephson, who previously worked at the Sheriff's Office before becoming chief of police.

"It is concerning to this investigator that given Spring and Josephson’s close professional relationship, Plains went forth with its selection of Spring to investigate," Lott notes. "The result is exactly what one might have expected."

She notes that Spring's 29-page report "goes on – at length – to discredit Reyna rather than examine Reyna’s allegations against the Plains Police Department."

"Likely due to the absence of neutrality, the report makes no mention of information that undermines Josephson’s accusations against Reyna."

The most glaring example, she stated, involves Plains’ reason for terminating Reyna’s employment -- that Reyna allegedly falsified police records, which the town said was discovered during Spring's investigation.

Upon becoming police chief, Josephson instructed all Plains Police officers to provide proof of written warnings in lieu of verbal warnings. In his witness testimony, Reyna said that Josephson’s instructions were unclear, and that he understood the directive to mean that he was to create written verbal warnings, retroactively, for the verbal warnings he had provided during traffic stops. Reyna said that in order to document these written verbal warnings with department software, he “made up" a record number by using his badge number and a series of other random numbers. 

Josephson acknowledged in Lott's investigation that how Reyna filed the warning documents had no impact on the outcome of the warning provided to the citizen. Further, Josephson could not articulate what actions he intended Reyna to take based on his instruction, Lott wrote.

"It is unsurprising to this investigator that an unclear directive from a supervisor would lead to an unintended action by a subordinate," Lott stated.

"It is surprising, however, that Spring’s report would look past Josephson’s unclear directive and instead land on a finding that Reyna falsified police records."

She also pointed to disparaging statements Spring made about Reyna during her investigation in which Spring expressed his opinion that Reyna was not a good police officer and that Reyna’s “officer safety sucked.” Spring also told Lott that he had complained about Reyna to Josephson on several occasions.

"Perhaps Plains officials were duped by Josephson into believing that Spring would act as a neutral investigator. This remains unclear," Lott's report states. "However, the report itself confirms that Spring did not act as a neutral investigator."

"Both Josephson and [former Plains Mayor Christopher Allen] avow that Reyna simply was not a good police officer," Lott continued. "However, neither witness offered evidence, circumstantial or otherwise in support of their assertion. Furthermore, Plains offered no credible evidence suggesting that performance deficiencies were addressed with Reyna prior to the protected activity in which he engaged."

Jaramillo was among the witnesses interviewed during the bureau's investigation.

Jaramillo also submitted to Council email communications between Josephson and the Plains-Paradise Rural Fire District Chief James Russell. In the email, Russell discusses Josephson's request to remove an emergency responder from an accident scene due to the responder's unprofessional behavior, as well as a general a lack of communication between the two department leaders.

"I wish that we had the relationship and trust to work through issues, but I do not believe I have the same courtesy I shared with your predecessor," Russell wrote to Josephson.

In response to Jaramillo's public comments at the last Council meeting, Plains Mayor Joel Banham said the issues being raised were investigated and “resolved among the parties involved.” 

He defended Josephson, saying he had confidence that the chief was fulfilling his duties with integrity.

Editor's Note: A story in last week's Valley Press should have noted that Matthew Jaramillo submitted documents to the Council, as noted in this follow-up story. It also should be clarified that Raf Viniard, who made public comments at the Council meeting, owns Clark Fork River Radio and is not associated with Big Sky Networks.