Two Washoe County Sheriff’s detectives last week filed a civil rights lawsuit against the Reno Police Department and former Police Chief Jason Soto. Also named in the litigation is a retired RPD Sergeant, Paul Sifre, who is alleged to have sexually harassed the two plaintiffs.
Apryl McElroy and Jessica Troup, detectives with the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office, both allege Sifre made sexually explicit comments to them while at a conference in Las Vegas. Rather than addressing the issue—and what they called longstanding problematic behavior by Sifre—the plaintiffs allege he received a lucrative disability retirement instead.
McElroy and Troup were assigned to the regional narcotics unit—comprising local law enforcement officers—and, in 2021, went to a week-long law enforcement conference in Las Vegas. They shared a room.
“Sifre made a comment to McElroy that Troup likes to ‘eat out other women’ and that Troup told him she had done this with another woman,” the complaint alleges.
The complaint claims that the comments continued at dinner and into the evening.
“Sifre again directed the conversation to a sexual nature and asked McElroy if she and Troup were going to ‘scissor’ in bed that night since they were sharing a room,” the complaint notes. “This question served to make McElroy even more uncomfortable around Sifre, so she promptly excused herself.”
Troup allegedly told Sifre his comments were inappropriate and demeaning. She also reported it to her sergeant. From there, Sifre was allegedly removed from the narcotics unit and, according to the suit, was ordered not to contact the plaintiffs.
Sifre was then allowed in the narcotics unit offices “unescorted,” the lawsuit alleges, which prompted the plaintiffs to be fearful. The plaintiffs also said Sifre had a legacy of internal affairs complaints “involving racial profiling, excessive force, sexual misconduct, sexual harassment, timecard fraud, insubordination and other code of conduct allegations.”
“He was given a retirement that was better than he had earned with his performance and longevity at the City of Reno.”
They allege the Reno Police Department and former Police Jason Soto should have identified Sifre as a liability before the incident.
“Because of the long list of complaints and IA investigations, Reno had a duty to identify Sifre through its Early Warning System, assign additional supervision, require additional training and counseling and to apply reasonable disciplinary policies and procedures, including terminating Sifre’s employment as a Reno Police Officer,” they said.
Soto instead allowed Sifre to be in charge of the narcotics unit, they allege.
“Following the reporting of Sifre’s sexual harassment, Reno, through the RPD Internal Affairs Division, conducted an investigation and confirmed that Sifre had engaged in improper and illegal sexual harassment which created a hostile work environment for both [plaintiffs],” the complaint indicates.
“Nevertheless, Soto, Reno, and RPD intentionally delayed the completion of the Internal Affairs investigation to allow Sifre to enjoy a contractual increase of benefits and facilitated Sifre obtaining a medical disability retirement which provides greater retirement benefits [than] Sifre’s performance and tenure earned,” the complaint adds.
They are seeking attorney fees and damages above $75,000.
“Both of these detectives are dyed-in-the-wool law-enforcement officers, and so the way Soto treated them—support by the City of Reno—really destroyed their ideas about what they called the law enforcement family,” the plaintiffs’ attorney, Jack Campbell, told This Is Reno. “They’ve lost the trust in the system because what was clearly wrong was never punished. They never punished him. He never lost his salary. He was given a retirement that was better than he had earned with his performance and longevity at the City of Reno.”
Transparent Nevada lists Sifre’s annual salary in 2021 as $156,000 and total pay with benefits as $270,000.
Campbell, a former deputy city attorney, was accused of sexually harassing behavior while at the city. That’s according to reporting in the Reno Gazette Journal from 2015. Campbell disputed the allegations. He said he was an at-will employee fired by newly elected City Attorney Karl Hall.
City Manager Doug Thornley said he could not comment on the pending litigation.
CORRECTION: Both detectives are with the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office, according to WCSO’s spokesperson. This article previously identified one of the detectives with the DA’s office, which was incorrect.
Read the complaint
Read the complaint here: https://www.slideshare.net/ThisisReno/sheriffs-deputy-county-investigator-sue-reno-police-department-former-chief
