Who is Brandon Hartley? Deputy sues Utah sheriff's office after accusing instructor of sexual assault
Warning: This article contains information about sexual assault that could be triggering to some readers. Discretion is advised.
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH: A deputy with the Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office is suing the department on the grounds that one of the academy's instructors repeatedly sexually attacked her and that his coworkers were aware of and complicit in the assault. The woman, who asked to remain anonymous out of fear of retaliation, claimed her colleague Brandon Hartley would force her to stay late or excuse her from training before assaulting her and humiliating her, calling her "worthless and nothing but a slut," according to the document.
The case, which was submitted in November to the US District Court for Utah, claims that the abuse began as soon as the woman enrolled in the sheriff's office academy in April 2021. Brandon Hartley, a former deputy of the Salt Lake County sheriff at the time, was an academy instructor, as per The Salt Lake Tribune.
READ MORE
Paul Haggis: 'Crash' director ordered to pay victim Haleigh Breest $7.5M who accused him of rape
According to the complaint, the complainant was informed that she "was not [Hartley's] only victim" during her own internal affairs interview. According to the lawsuit, she was also informed by a top deputy that her case "slipped through the cracks" after the interview. Tyler Todd, one of the victim's lawyers, claimed that the department's "good old boys' club" was aware of what was going on and "turned a blind eye." “I have a lot of respect for law enforcement,” Todd said, adding “But this is a pervasive problem that is getting swept under the rug for way too long.”
As per the complaint, Hartley quit before the victim graduated from the academy in 2021 after an internal affairs probe investigated whether he had sexually abused another woman at the academy in 2020. The Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office stated through a spokeswoman that due to the ongoing lawsuit, the department can only provide "limited information" in response to the complainant's allegations.
Sheriff Rosie Rivera claimed in a statement that she put Hartley on administrative leave and launched an internal affairs inquiry "as soon as we became aware of allegations against him." “The findings of that investigation would have resulted in his termination, [but] before the termination process was completed Mr Hartley resigned,” she said.
Salt Lake Tribune reported that out of the 676 alleged misconduct cases heard by the state's Peace Office Standards and Training organization since 2009, 73 cases involve officer sexual misconduct with an adult, including allegations of rape, lewdness, and other related offenses, as per a database from the nonprofit Utah Criminal Justice Institute reveals that . These cases led to 44 license suspensions and 32 license revocations.