The Curry County sheriff used “deceit, dishonesty and subversion” to keep secret his use of private donations to buy pricey equipment and erect a large building on his own Gold Beach property, according to an outside consultant’s investigation.
Sheriff John Ward’s leadership of the southern Oregon law enforcement agency has been under scrutiny as Curry County leaders accuse him and his predecessor of misusing nearly $390,000 in donations.
The county this week released an investigation by outside law enforcement consultant Jim Ferraris in response to a public records request from The Oregonian/OregonLive.
In his report, Ferraris concluded the sheriff “does not appear credible” and cited more than a half-dozen instances where he found Ward had given conflicting, inaccurate or dishonest responses.
In particular, Ferraris concluded Ward had “engaged in deceit, dishonesty, misrepresentation of facts” related to the donations from the John G. Atkins Foundation. Ward, Ferraris found, skirted county purchasing rules and directly solicited donations for goods for his personal use.
Ferraris also questioned Ward’s responses during a sworn deposition last year, when the county’s attorney asked Ward if he had ever been arrested, Ferraris wrote. Ward said no. Asked if he had ever been in custody “for any reason,” he conferred with his lawyer, who directed him not to answer.
Ferraris wrote that there was evidence Ward had been arrested on two occasions: once by the Curry County Sheriff’s office on drug charges and once on allegations he’d deserted the U.S. Navy.
Details of Ward’s military service were not immediately available this week. He did not respond to an email asking for details of his record or the claim that he had abandoned his naval post. According to the sheriff’s office website, Ward was born and raised in Gold Beach and joined the Navy out of high school in 1975. Ward testified during a deposition last year that he served for about 2 1/2 to three years and received an honorable discharge.
Ferraris cited a sworn statement by a retired Curry County sheriff’s detective, Dave Gardiner, who said he confronted Ward in 2017 about the desertion allegation and that Ward had denied it but subsequently acknowledged he had turned himself in.
In an interview with The Oregonian/OregonLive this week, Gardiner said in 2015 or 2016 he saw a typewritten card in sheriff’s office archives that showed Ward’s mugshot and arrest for desertion. He did not recall the date of the arrest.
He said he confronted Ward two years later. He said Ward, who was then sheriff, initially denied the accusation. “And finally, I said, ‘John, I’ve seen the arrest card. I’ve seen your photograph. I know you were arrested for being AWOL,’” Gardiner said. He said Ward replied, “Well, I wasn’t arrested. I turned myself in.”
Gardiner said he didn’t publicly disclose the discovery at the time because he worried about his job. He said he came forward last year due to frustrations with Ward’s leadership.
Ferraris noted that Ward’s employment materials also show he disclosed that the Curry County Sheriff’s Office had accused him of selling a controlled substance in 1980, that he was ultimately found “guilty of possession” and his record was later “cleared,” Ferraris’s report states. It is unclear whether Ward was exonerated or the conviction record was merely sealed.
Ferraris’s report details various purchases the sheriff’s office made with foundation donations, including a 31 foot travel trailer that Ward said the agency would use as a command center for search and rescue. Ferraris’s report noted that the trailer is titled and registered to Ward.
Ward applied for building permits for the foundation-funded storage shed on his own property in Gold Beach, Ferraris wrote. A photograph accompanying his report shows the travel trailer parked in the building.
“All of the invoices for the permitting, excavation, supplies, materials and labor for the construction of the building were issued in Ward’s personal name at his personal address,” Ferraris wrote.
According to the report, the county has plenty of land for such a structure but Ward never inquired about using it.
The Atkins foundation was started in 2005 by Atkins’ daughter, Jayne Gibney, a longtime Brookings resident. She died in 2007 and her will earmarked $1 million in shares of the shipping company UPS for the foundation, according to court records. Probate records list her friend, Rory Smith, as foundation president.
The foundation supports public institutions in Curry County, including police and schools, according to its Oregon Secretary of State filings.
According to Ferraris’s report, the Curry County Sheriff’s Office began receiving donations after Gibney’s death and those contributions continued for more than a decade.
County leaders say both Ward and his predecessor, John Bishop, mismanaged the donations. Bishop left office more than a decade ago and went on to serve as executive director of the Oregon State Sheriffs’ Association. In 2019, he was convicted of stealing from that organization.
County rules require donations to be recorded and deposited into “restricted accounts” that “ensure appropriate legal use” of the funds, then disbursed through the budget county process, according to the commission.
According to Ferraris’s report, an attorney for Curry County sought “intervention” by the district attorney in alleged misconduct in the sheriff’s office. The report states that District Attorney Kevin Kelley responded, “I’ve got to work with these guys.” Kelley told The Oregonian/OregonLive on Tuesday that the comment had been “taken out of context.”
“I think I said it in the context of I do work with these guys on a daily basis. I take their cases. I rely on their work, you know, and I am in the middle between the board of commissioners and the sheriff’s office,” he said.
He told the news organization that allegations involving the sheriff’s office should be reviewed by the Oregon Department of Justice.
Ward, 68, has led the sheriff’s office since 2014. He retired in 2017 but stayed on the job and has since collected both a state pension of about $45,718 and his salary, which currently is $109,520.
According to the Oregon Department of Public Safety Standards and Training, which certifies law enforcement officers, Ward attended three community colleges and the University of Oregon but does not hold a degree.
©2026 Advance Local Media LLC. Visit BrowBrow. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Post a Comment