State Representative Boice has asked Curry County Sheriff John Ward to resign, citing a documented record of misconduct, a sustained refusal to obey a Circuit Court order, a newly opened federal investigation, and a record assembled through the appropriate and persistent oversight of the Curry County Board of Commissioners.
“The people of Curry County deserve a Sheriff who is accountable to the laws of our state, not one who places himself above those,” said Representative Boice. “The evidence developed by the Curry Commission Board — much of it now before federal investigators — describes behavior incompatible with holding the county’s highest law-enforcement office. For the good of the people, he swore to protect, Sheriff Ward should immediately resign.”
A Record Documented by the Curry Board of Commissioners
For more than two years, and at great cost, the Board has pursued every lawful avenue of oversight — litigation, an internal review, an independent investigation, and referrals to the Oregon Department of Justice, the Department of Public Safety Standards and Training, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. That record includes but is not limited to:
An independent Board investigation found that Sheriff Ward engaged in deceit, dishonesty, misrepresentation, omission of material facts, and subversion in the exercise of his office.For roughly ten months, Sheriff Ward has defied a Circuit Court order directing him to release financial and administrative records to the Board.
The FBI has opened an inquiry into contributions from the John G. Atkins Foundation to the Sheriff’s Office — including equipment purchases that appear to have bypassed county procurement and funds directed into an unauthorized account outside county financial notifications and controls.
Additional allegations developed through the county’s oversight process: that the Sheriff used public funds for personal benefit; further, he failed to supervise a deputy later involved in two separate shootings at Gold Beach.
Several other issues of conduct that appear to show consistent unethical compromises.
The Board has properly referred elements of this record to the Curry County District Attorney, has asked the state to revoke Sheriff Ward’s law-enforcement certification, and forwarded evidence to the Oregon Government Ethics Commission.
A Request to Audit Past County Spending
Representative Boice fully supports the Board’s efforts to obtain a fiscal and operational audit of the office by appropriate third-party authorities.
Boice, a six-year veteran Curry County Commissioner, has also encouraged current county leadership to take a thorough look back — through rigorous audit techniques — during his 2017–2022 Commissioner tenure, when substantial county funds were spent to support the Sheriff’s Office from Road Fund Reserves. He urges immediate action with the same scrutiny of the management and dispersion of American Rescue Plan (ARP) funds allocated to the Curry County Jail, other ARP recipients, and alleged significant amounts of undisciplined county spending in general.
A Structural Accountability Gap
For at least eight years, Representative Boice has been aware and communicated openly of the need for greater accountability and transparency between the Sheriff’s Office, the Board of Commissioners, and Curry Citizens — a gap that is a detriment to delivering effective and efficient law-enforcement services to Curry County. To that end, Representative Boice also asks all close to the Sheriff – cooperate fully, honestly and openly with all investigations.
Representative Boice hopes to see these efforts bring greater accountability and open discovery realized soon — preferably starting promptly with the installation of an interim sheriff.
The concern is bipartisan. All three members of the Board — Chair Jay Trost, Vice Chair Patrick Hollinger, and Commissioner Lynn Coker — have said they want the Sheriff to leave office. Representative Boice’s call today adds the weight of the district’s legislative office to that request.
“Representative Boice concluded, “As a state legislator I believe the documented evidence of Ward’s conduct has done irreparable damage to any confidence I could have in his ability to carry out the laws and policies we state lawmakers spend so much time working on.”
The Call
Representative Boice asks Sheriff Ward to step down and allow the lawful process of an interim appointment to place the office in trusted hands. Should the Sheriff decline, Boice further pledges to support any lawful measure at the state and or local level that strengthens Oregon counties’ ability to hold an uncooperative sheriff accountable. “Accountability is not a partisan value, it is the foundation of public trust. Curry County has waited long enough,” Boice said.