A months-long lawsuit brought by the Deschutes County Sheriff's Office against the City of La Mesa, California, ended last month with La Mesa releasing the personnel records for Sgt. Kent Vander Kamp, a candidate for DCSO's top spot.
The release follows a public records request by DCSO to obtain Vander Kamp's personnel file after DCSO learned he had worked at La Mesa PD, a position Vander Kamp did not disclose on his 2004 application at DCSO, according to court documents. Court records show that Vander Kamp was a part-time reserve officer from 1995-1997 at La Mesa PD.
Cory Briggs, attorney for DCSO in the case against La Mesa, confirmed that his office received the "full file" from the city. Staff at La Mesa's city attorney's office also confirmed that the personnel records were sent to Briggs' office after a Sept. 13 hearing in San Diego Superior Court. What is in the file remains unknown to the public. However, in his declaration to the court, Briggs argued that Vander Kamp was discharged for cause following an internal investigation and that the results were kept by La Mesa as a permanent record, per its policy, and should be made public.
At the Sept. 13 hearing, Jude Loren Freestone confirmed his earlier tentative ruling "to grant Plaintiff/Petitioner Deschutes County Sheriff's Office's motion for disclosure," and that Vander Kamp's waiver to have previous employment information disclosed to DCSO when applying to the office was valid in this case, according to court documents. The court ruled that La Mesa was to provide the documents by Monday, Sept. 16.
The Source Weekly obtained a copy of email correspondence to Briggs from La Mesa's attorney on the case, Cory Lacy, indicating attached personnel documents. According to the titles of the attachments in the email, these included multiple memos about Vander Kamp from January 1996. The Source did not receive a copy of the files and a public records request to the City of La Mesa is pending.
Vander Kamp previously said he would make the personnel records public, but his attorney says that despite requesting a copy in August, Vander Kamp has not received the file in question. Calls and emails to Vander Kamp have not been returned.
Retiring Sheriff Shane Nelson initiated an internal investigation into Vander Kamp earlier this year following a complaint against him by Mandi Puckett, former executive director at CLEAR Alliance. A tort claim notice filed by Vander Kamp on Sept. 4 stated that he was looking into filing a complaint for discrimination and political retaliation against him. Nelson is on the record as supporting the other candidate for sheriff, William Bailey, and has a history of accusations by former employees of similar intimidation.
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