Ex-deputy reaps $1.3M payout

CANYON CITY - In a series of settlements, Grant County and the state of Oregon have agreed to pay a former sheriff's deputy more than $1 million to lay to rest all financial claims arising from his termination.

In exchange for dropping a federal lawsuit against the county and six named defendants, Tyler Smith has now been paid $900,000 in damages by the county's insurance carrier, $253,500 in back wages by the county, and $165,000 in damages by the state, for a total of $1,318,500.

None of the defendants have admitted any wrongdoing.

The final settlement agreement, a copy of which was obtained by the Eagle through a public records request, was signed by Grant County Judge Scott Myers on Jan. 2, bringing to a close a saga of criminal cases, internal investigations and civil actions that played out over a four-year period.

Smith was fired by the Grant County Sheriff's Office in December 2019, a few months after his arrest on charges of child neglect, attempted rape, attempted sex abuse and fourth-degree assault.

The child neglect charges were dismissed in July 2022, and Smith was found not guilty of the other charges at trial that November.

In the meantime, Smith had filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Pendleton for wrongful termination and whistleblower retaliation. As defendants, the suit named Grant County, former Sheriff Glenn Palmer, District Attorney Jim Carpenter, Undersheriff Zach Mobley and former Deputy Abigail Mobley.

Wheeler County District Attorney Gretchen Ladd, who prosecuted the criminal case against Smith, and former Grant County Deputy Daniel Komning, Abigail Mobley's brother, were later added to the suit as defendants.

The lawsuit claimed that Palmer and the Mobleys orchestrated a plan to have Smith arrested and fired from his job to get back at him for talking to the Oregon Department of Justice about allegations that Abigail Mobley, who was still a deputy at the time, had used illegal drugs and had a sexual relationship with an inmate at the Grant County Jail.

That suit was held in abeyance while the criminal charges against Smith were still pending, then resumed after his acquittal.

Pieces of the settlement

Abigail Mobley resigned from the Grant County Sheriff's Office in Dec. 2020 after a DOJ investigation found that she had committed numerous violations of the county's code of conduct in connection with her improper relationship with the inmate.

In November of 2022, her law enforcement certification was revoked for 10 years by the Oregon Department of Public Safety Standards and Training, and a month later she was dropped from Smith's civil suit for reasons that are not clear in the court record.

On June 1, 2023, Smith was reinstated to his job as a sheriff's deputy and paid $253,500 in back wages by the county. He returned to work, but was immediately placed on paid administrative leave by the sheriff's office because, at the time, there was an open review of his law enforcement credentials by the Department of Public Safety Standards and Training, according to a signed agreement releasing the county from wage claims and settling a grievance Smith filed through his union. (In November, a DPSST committee recommended Smith's credentials be revoked for five years; Smith is appealing that decision.)

In September of 2023, Carpenter and Ladd were dropped from the lawsuit after the state agreed to pay Smith $165,000 to settle his civil claims against them, court records show. (As district attorneys, both are state employees.)

The county and the remaining individual defendants in the civil suit - Palmer, Zach Mobley and Komning - were released from any liability in the settlement agreement concluded in early January.

The county's insurance carrier, Citycounty Insurance Services, agreed to pay a total of $900,000 to settle the lawsuit. Of that amount, the settlement agreement states, $630,000 goes to Smith and $270,000 goes to his attorneys, Hutchinson Cox LLC of Eugene.

The agreement also stipulates that Smith's employment with the county ended Dec. 31 and will be shown on county records as a resignation.

On Jan. 26, U.S. Magistrate Judge Jolie A. Russo signed the final order dismissing Smith's lawsuit.

Moving on

Grant County Sheriff Todd McKinley, who entered office after defeating Palmer in the 2020 election and was not a defendant in Smith's lawsuit, declined to comment for this story.

Grant County Judge Scott Myers kept his statement on the settlement short.

"I'm glad it's resolved," he said.

Smith, likewise, expressed relief.

"I'm just glad the whole thing's over," he said. "It's been a four-year ordeal."

Smith, who will turn 38 this month, said he's not sure if he wants to resume his law enforcement career, although he is appealing the five-year revocation of his credentials.

For now, he's working as a private investigator for the defense in criminal cases and contemplating what he might want to do next. He said he feels like the settlement payments have made him whole financially and he bears no lingering resentment toward the county or any of the former defendants in his civil suit.

"I don't have any animosity towards them," Smith said. "I think everyone just wants to move on."