This story has been updated to include new details from the grand jury’s indictment, made public Friday.
A Clackamas County jail deputy is behind bars following a reportedly weeks-long criminal investigation into his off-duty behavior, though details remain scarce.
Benjamin E. Lyman, 44, was booked into jail Thursday morning. A grand jury indicted Lyman on 17 counts including harassment, strangulation and interfering with making a police report — all misdemeanors — as well as four felony counts of first-degree criminal mistreatment.
The full list of charges, released Friday, stems from instances where the sheriffs deputy allegedly physically injured a dependent person that shares Lyman’s last name. OPB is not naming the individual.
The grand jury’s indictment appears to break into four separate incidents — one took place on April 26 in a Winco parking lot, another earlier this year where the same dependent person was “forced to move wood chips/mulch/bark chips.” The two other incidents occurred last fall, including one “in which defendant was called a sperm donor.”
He was arraigned Friday in Clackamas County Circuit Court, though he was being held in Marion County jail.
FILE - A Clackamas County sheriff's deputy stands in the hall of the Clackamas County Jail on Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2019, in Oregon City, Ore.
Conrad Wilson / OPB
In Oregon law, criminal mistreatment occurs when a person “intentionally or knowingly” mistreats someone in their care, such as an elderly person. Examples of such mistreatment could be withholding food or medication, physically abusing them or misusing their money.
The law similarly describes interference with making a report as when a person intentionally prevents a person from filing a police report by “removing, damaging or interfering with a telephone line, telephone or similar communication equipment.”
The charges all stem from Lyman’s actions while off-duty, according to the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office. Lyman has been a corrections deputy at the jail since 2007.
Lyman’s arrest came at least three weeks into a criminal investigation led by the Oregon City Police Department. The police department notified the sheriff’s office on April 28, according to spokesperson John Wildhaber.
The agency then placed Lyman on paid administrative leave on April 29, Wildhaber said.
Lyman’s arrest came days after Clackamas County voters rejected an increase in public safety funding, which asked to hike residents’ property taxes to help pay for deputies, detectives, jail beds, body-worn cameras and more.
Separately, the sheriff’s office made headlines last week after a video spread online that showed a deputy repeatedly hitting a man in the midst of a behavioral health crisis during an arrest.
OPB’s Conrad Wilson contributed to this report.
