PORT TOWNSEND — Paul Richmond has accused Scott Rosekrans, his opponent in the election race for Jefferson County prosecutor, of “targeting homosexuals as criminals” during Rosekrans’ time as a Houston policeman in the 1970s and 1980s.
Rosekrans denied the allegations.
“This can’t be confirmed because it is not true,” Rosekrans told the Peninsula Daily News.
“This is libel and slander, and he’d better be able to back it up,”
Richmond, a Port Townsend attorney, made the allegations in a letter he sent out Monday resigning from the Jefferson County Democrats.
In the letter, he accused Rosekrans, a county deputy criminal prosecutor, of belonging to a police “chicken hawk squad” that entrapped gay males and used at-risk youth for bait.
“I resign from the local Democratic Party,” Richmond wrote. “The party has been dishonest about the causes of the economic crisis, dishonest about addressing issues of prosecutorial discretion and dishonest about the horrendous background of their prosecutorial candidate during the time he worked a vice squad in Houston targeting gays, a group that is supposed to be part of the ‘big tent.'”
Richmond, who ran as a Democrat in the 2008 primary against U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks, is running as an independent in this year’s prosecutor contest.
The Jefferson County Democrats have endorsed Rosekrans as prosecutor.
“Richmond is advancing unsubstantiated allegations, accepting them as truth because they serve his interests,” Democratic Chairman Matt Sircely said in an e-mail to the PDN.
“That is not up to the standard of a prosecutor.”
Sircely said the party “extensively researched Scott Rosekrans’ record and positions prior to his nomination.
“Clearly, these unsubstantiated allegations from 30 years ago are not up to the standards of a news reporter.
“Lawyers must operate at a much higher standard of truth and verification.”
Olympia attorney Ted DeBray, one of Richmond’s sources, said he was not contacted by local Democratic leaders about the allegations.
Richmond’s second source is Houston gay activist Ray Hill, who said that he had no firsthand evidence of Rosekrans’ behavior but “had heard a lot about him” during Rosekrans’ time on the police force.
Like Hill, DeBray said he had no firsthand knowledge of Rosekrans’ alleged actions, although DeBray said that Rosekrans had boasted of anti-gay police work exploits once “but didn’t ever bring it up again because he saw my disgusted reaction.”
In his letter, Richmond said that “Rosekrans has a history of harming the most vulnerable people in his community . . .
“[Rosekrans] told former Prosecuting Attorney Ted DeBray a joke about ‘stunning the mullet,’ which is slang for a procedure where a homosexual is invited into a vehicle, presumably for a sexual liaison.
“The officer, Rosekrans, would drive for a while, with his arm around the homosexual
“He would brake suddenly, smashing the victim’s head into the dashboard.
“Then there would be an arrest, custody and days without medical treatment.”
Richmond said he had not talked to any of the victims to verify the story, saying “after 30 years they are all going to be dead, from AIDS and other causes.”
As proof, he said he was “in the process of acquiring the microfiche” from Houston newspapers that would verify the story.
Rosekrans said he was involved in arresting prostitutes as a member of the vice squad, but that DeBray had “misinterpreted” Rosekrans’ description of the process.
“I used whatever force that was necessary to effect the arrest,” Rosekrans said.
“We would have them in a car, supposedly to go to a place where we were going to commit a sex act, and we’d go around the building where there would be several police officers.
“We would tell the subject to put their hands on the dashboard.
“If they did not immediately comply, we would slam on the brakes and push them down into the dashboard, because you could never tell if they were armed.”
Rosekrans said that as an undercover officer he did not carry a gun and had to anticipate that those who are under arrest for prostitution could be armed.
“I had a prostitute get the drop on me with a knife once,” he said.
“She kept poking me in the side, and I had no weapon to defend myself.”
Jefferson County Superior Court Clerk Ruth Gordon said she had heard the allegations cited by Richmond.
“All this is hearsay,” Gordon said.
“We looked into these allegations a long time ago and couldn’t find anything.
“I would really hate to see Scott’s reputation to be damaged by this.”
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Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
