By Emily E. Smith
After Sherwood Police Officer
Adam Keesee discovered that his wife had molested one of her students, he
reported it to his coworkers, court records say.
But instead of investigating
Denise Keesee, then a Sherwood High School teacher, her husband and five other
officers set out to intimidate, harass and coerce the boy into not taking any
action against her, records say.
That’s the crux of a $1.5
million lawsuit against Adam Keesee, five unnamed Sherwood officers and the
City of Sherwood. The former student’s complaint was filed last week in
Washington County Circuit Court.
Sheriff’s deputies arrested
Denise Keesee last year on charges of sexually abusing the plaintiff and
another student.
Soon afterward, the plaintiff
filed a $5.1 million lawsuit against Denise Keesee and the Sherwood School
District last year. That civil case is still pending.
In February, she pleaded guilty
to sexually abusing one of the students, but not the one suing her. She was
sentenced last month to 30 days in custody and five years of probation. As part
of her plea deal, she faces a possible prison sentence if she violates her
probation.
The suit against her husband,
five unnamed officers and the City of Sherwood claims civil rights violations,
assault and battery, false arrest and imprisonment and intentional infliction
of severe emotional distress.
Sherwood City Attorney Chris
Crean and Adam Keesee's lawyer, Dan Thenell, said Friday they could not comment
on the allegations because they hadn't seen the complaint.
The cops began harassing the
teen after he reported inappropriate contact with Denise Keesee to his school
counselor and vice principal, according to his complaint. School officials, he
says, didn't believe him and declined to inform police or Child Protective
Services.
The complaint says that after
the student reported the abuse, Denise Keesee told her husband. Adam Keesee
then “began illegally using his position as a City of Sherwood Police Officer
to intimidate, threaten, ridicule, assault, batter, and falsely imprison” the
boy in incidents between 2007 and 2009.
View full sizeAdam Keesee
The specific allegations
include:
• Adam Keesee pulled the teen over for driving without a
license or insurance, but the teen had both; after forcing the teen to wait in
his vehicle for nearly two hours, the officer “threw the license and proof of
insurance back at Plaintiff, vowing that he would make it a point to take
Plaintiff’s license for life”
• In September 2007, the teen went to a high school football
game, where Adam Keesee tackled and handcuffed him and searched his pockets,
saying he had thought the cellphone in the teen’s back pocket was a gun; the
cop released the teen at the field entrance and banned him from attending the
game
• Adam Keesee put the teen in a holding cell once and took a
photo, which the officer then sent to his wife; Denise Keesee printed the
picture and showed it to students in her class
• The plaintiff was once speaking with a Sherwood officer
about an unrelated matter when Adam Keesee arrived, exited his patrol car and
began choking the teen, yelling that he could harm the teen “badge or no
badge”; the other officer stopped the assault when the teen began to turn
purple
• Adam Keesee and another cop stopped the plaintiff in 2009
and took him to jail on suspicion of intoxicated driving, after Adam Keesee had
declared he would “burn” the teen at every opportunity; a drug citation was
later dropped and the plaintiff was released after spending two weeks in jail
According to the complaint, the
defendants ignored reports of misconduct by the teacher, “actual knowledge of
Denise Keesee grooming students for future molestation” and the abuse of
multiple students.
This, the plaintiff alleges,
amounted to the defendants permitting and so much as encouraging sexual abuse
by Denise Keesee.
During the course of his wife's
prosecution, Oregon State Police investigated Adam Keesee on allegations of
intimidation, harassment and official misconduct.
Adam Keesee was placed on leave
last year, and he remains on leave, the department said Friday.
The Clackamas County District
Attorney’s Office reviewed the state police investigation and declined to bring
charges against the officer.
The cop acted unprofessionally
in his dealings with the teen but didn’t commit any crimes, prosecutor Bryan
Brock wrote in a February charging decision. “Officer Keesee’s conduct was
motivated by personal gain and designed to harm (the teen),” the decision says.
In his memo, Brock said it was
clear that Adam Keesee wanted “to get back at” the teen. However, the
prosecutor concluded that crimes could not be proven.