Despite his contention that he was being persecuted for purely political reasons, on August 29 Idaho Peace Officer Standards and Training Division Administrator Brad Johnson formally revoked the Idaho POST law enforcement certifications of retired Boundary County Sheriff’s Deputy and former candidate for sheriff Dave Schuman.
“After I declared my candidacy, and after a law enforcement career spanning decades with this Sheriff’s Office, I was suddenly subjected to a personnel action initiated, in the view of many, for purely political reasons, and designed to defeat my candidacy,” he wrote in a statement confirming that he remained a candidate after news broke that Boundary County Prosecutor Andrakay Pluid had, on February 12, written the POST Academy to express concerns regarding Schuman.
“I am attaching a letter regarding my concerns regarding Deputy Schuman’s veracity pursuant to Giglio,” Pluid wrote. “Feel free to call with questions.”
Attached was a pages-long memorandum of record referencing Ben Apo in regards to allegations of conflict and financial discrepancies in reference to American Legion Post 55 and and Seniors Center that were never turned in for prosecution though there were concerns of potential crimes committed.
Allegations of falsified canine training records and of falsified personal training records; of false statements released to the public to bolster his campaign for sheriff.
“Giglio” refers the 1972 Supreme Court Case 405 U.S. 150, and it bolstered the court’s 1963 findings in 373 U.S. 83, Brady vs. Maryland,
“The Brady and Giglio precedents require police officers to be especially careful to avoid any actions or statements that could compromise their credibility,” the Nevada law firm GGRQM explains on their website. “The prosecution is legally required to disclose any misconduct or compromising information regarding the witness to the defense attorney, who will then use it to impeach the law enforcement witness on the stand. The end result can be the loss of what would have been a strong case.”
An officer “Giglioed” or Brady-listed won’t go to jail, but won’t be trusted to testify in a court of law. Worse yet, any testimony given in their career becomes suspect and open to challenge. For all practical purposes, their effectiveness as a peace officer ends.
On April 1, Schuman released the statement, “I am officially retired from the Boundary County Sheriff’s Office. My days are filled with campaigning to be the next Sheriff and loving life.”
On April 9 he wrote, “It’s a political game. I don’t play games. I intend to show through my ability to speak freely about the real issues facing this Sheriff’s Office, that the people of this county can’t be fooled by ‘personnel actions’ into voting against their best interests, and I sincerely believe my candidacy is in their best interests … I’m running and retiring because it needs to be done to ensure the truth about these matters come out, and I can’t do that as an employee of the Sheriff’s Office.
“I’m fully prepared to demonstrate and prove that the ‘personnel action’ that caused public attention was primarily politically motivated. At present, I am unable to divulge all the evidence, which may lead to unfounded speculation, however, I can inform you that the allegations are baseless.”
On May 21, he came in last in the county’s three-way Republican primary race for sheriff, garnering 551 votes to winner Travis Stolley’s 1,958.
The POST investigation concluded April 12 and a Petition to Decertify notice was issued and Schuman responded June 26, submitting a rebuttal argument but declining an in person hearing. On July 17, the decision to revoke certification was issued, and the deadline to respond expired August 28.
Investigators looked into 11 allegations of de-certifiable misconduct and determined Schuman culpable in each:
- In or around October 2006, you used canine “Jody” to search a vehicle when you knew or should have known that Jody had failed her recertification exam for Idaho in June of 2005 and that you and Jody were no longer a certified canine team in Idaho.
- On or about July 15, 2016, you used canine “Malibu” to do an official search when you knew or should have known that Malibu had not passed the recertification exam and that you and Malibu were no longer a certified canine team in Idaho. Furthermore, you falsified your official report regarding the search.
- On or around the dates of November 2015 and December 2016, you acted dishonestly by failing to alert your agency that Malibu had not passed rcce1tification tests and that you and Malibu were no longer a certified canine team in the state of Idaho. Due to your dishonesty, you unlawfully received extra pay for five hours of “dog maintenance compensation” per week even though you and your canine were not a certified canine team in Idaho. The overage constituted unearned pay received in the approximate amount of $5,000. At no time did you correct the pay discrepancy or alert the agency to the fact that you were inappropriately receiving extra pay.
- On or about January 9, 2017, you falsified your training records in the Mandatory Training Reporting System by recording 25 hours of “in-house canine team” training as being completed on October 31, 2016, and 33 hours of “in-house canine team” training as being completed on December 31, 2015, when those hours were not actually completed and/or you knew or should have known that the training was insufficient to count towards POST certification requirements given you could not provide information for the training attended.
- In or around May 2023, you made an inappropriate sexual statement to (a) female while at a Memorial Day event. The above action constitutes a violation of the Law Enforcement Code of Ethics and involved sexual harassment. The above action is a basis for decertification under IDAPA.
- In or around May 2023, you made an inappropriate sexual statement to (a) female while at a Memorial Day event. You admitted to making this statement and characterized it as a joke.
- In or around 2023, you included in your campaign materials an endorsement letter from former Boundary County Sheriff’s Office Sergeant Robert Goad written in March of 2009 when you knew or should have known that the endorsement was not written by Goad and was not an authentic letter of endorsement.
- On or about June 2023, you publicly disseminated a personal resume that made the following claims: That you had been continuously certified as a canine officer from 2002 to present, That you are a “certified” narcotics detective, That you have been a field training officer while serving as a law enforcement officer, That you have attended “600 hours of leadership training,” That you hold a certification as a detention officer from POST, That your total seizure amount with canine partner “Jody” equaled $1,000,000, that your total seizure amount with canine partner “Malibu” equaled $94,000. All of the above statements were found to be untrue.
- In or about July or August 2023, you represented at a public event 1) That you had averaged one drug dealer conviction per month during the time that you were a narcotics detective and 2) That you had recently arrested a friend for his third DUI charge. According to an investigation conducted by the Boundary County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, the Boundary County Drug Task force’s records do not support your claim of one drug dealer conviction per month. According to the investigation, during a 48-month period between 2005 and 2008, you had 19 convictions. Your statement during the investigation that you cannot produce the records to back up your claim is due to the fact that copies of these reports, logs or statistic charts are the property of the Boundary County Sheriff’s Office, is yet another excuse to deflect the burden of proving otherwise away from you and from having investigators uncover the untruthfulness of your statement.
- On or about January 26, 2024, you attempted to harass and/or intimidate and/or bully Ben Apo, Chairman of the Board of the Boundary County Senior Center, by using the statement that you are a “certified police officer” in a letter demanding that Apo resign or be recalled for prosecution. You have admitted that you authored the letter in question.
- On or about February 16, 2024, you were found to have been using your agency vehicle for personal use in violation of your agency’s policies.
Retiring as an E-6 staff sergeant after a 20-year career as a military policeman in the U.S. Army, Schuman was hired as a detention deputy in the Boundary County Sheriff’s Office in 1999, elevated to patrol in 2000. He served under Sheriff’s Voyles, Sprungle and Kramer.
As it turns out, it’s probably a good thing he has but 19 convictions between 2005-08 … a good thing, according to officers of multiple jurisdictions he worked with, that he had few if any convictions in the years leading up to his second retirement. Having now been “Bradied,” every person jailed on the basis of his work and/or testimony ostensibly has grounds for appeal at taxpayer expense.