Jail deputy steals blank COVID vaccine cards to give to family, Oregon prosecutors say
An Oregon jail deputy will resign from his position after he was accused of stealing blank COVID-19 vaccination record cards from the jail he worked at, prosecutors said.
Robert James Haney, 50, of Battle Ground, Washington, pleaded guilty to second-degree official misconduct, Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office said in a Dec. 21 news release.
Haney, a Multnomah County Jail deputy, is accused of taking two blank COVID-19 vaccination cards during a clinic at the jail he worked at in May, prosecutors said. He was indicted in September.
He then filled out the blank cards with information from a completed co-worker’s card with the intention to give them to family, prosecutors said in the news release.
Those cards were found in his home after detectives conducted a search warrant, the release states.
Haney’s defense lawyer Christine Mascal told McClatchy News that Haney admitted to taking two vaccination cards but he didn’t distribute them to anyone.
“While I am deeply disappointed in this employee’s actions, I commend detectives for conducting a thorough investigation,” Sheriff Mike Reese of the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office said in the release. “Allegations of misconduct are serious matters for public safety agencies. .”
Under the guilty plea, Haney will have one week to resign from his job and then he will serve six months of probation, pay a $500 fine and relinquish his Oregon Department of Public Safety Standards and Training certification, prosecutors said.
“As law enforcement officials we’re working hard to earn the trust of our community. We know that demonstrating trustworthiness begins at home,” District Attorney Mike Schmidt said in the news release. “The collective effort between the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office and the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office to investigate and prosecute Mr. Haney shows our accountability systems at work, and more importantly that no one is above the law.”
Battle Ground is about 25 miles northeast of Portland.
This story was originally published December 22, 2021 at 12:50 PM with the headline "Jail deputy steals blank COVID vaccine cards to give to family, Oregon prosecutors say."
