Complaint requesting prosecution of St. Helens Mayor heads to Oregon DOJ

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — A controversy in St. Helens City Hall is on its way to the Oregon Department of Justice. 

The Columbia County Sheriff’s Office confirmed its office received a complaint requesting investigation and prosecution of the St. Helens Mayor in early April. 

The complaint obtained by KOIN 6 News accuses Mayor Jennifer Massey of corruption and alleges she colluded with ex-Police Chief Brian Greenway to get rid of 24-hour police coverage in an attempt to aid her mayoral race campaign. 

“After conducting an assessment of the complaint, myself and the District Attorney have determined that an external perspective is necessary to ensure an unbiased evaluation,” Sheriff Brian Pixley said in a statement. “As such, we have referred the entire case to the Oregon Department of Justice for their independent and impartial review.”

The move by Columbia County officials comes less than a month after Acting Police Chief Joseph Hogue filed a $500,000 whistleblower lawsuit against the City and Mayor Massey. 

Hogue’s lawsuit claims, “In October 2024, then Lieutenant Hogue, a 26-year veteran of SHPD, reported his supervisor Chief Brian Greenway for … creating a hostile work environment, withholding mutual aid from citizens and neighboring agencies, endangering officer safety, fraud, and colluding with Defendant Massey, then candidate for mayor, to withhold 24-hour police patrol coverage to influence the mayoral election.” 

Massey, who ran on the issue of increasing public safety, won the Mayoral race against incumbent Rick Scholl in November. 

Using public records, KOIN 6 news was able to put together a timeline regarding the issue of the City’s 24-hour police coverage:

On August 26, 2024, the St. Helens Police Association endorsed Jennifer Massey for mayor. 

Later that day, Massey responded to the endorsement, writing in a post to social media, “…The current mayor has rightly received a vote of no confidence from the police association due to a lack of fulfilling promises, an absence of a clear staffing plan, misplaced priorities, and other serious shortcomings. As a result, starting in October, the City of St. Helens will no longer have 24-hour police coverage, which is a critical failure of leadership…”

On September 4, 2024, Massey provided public testimony to City Council, saying, "We know it’s coming, we know that 24-hour coverage is going away. Why are we not communicating with the citizens?” Massey added, “Are we going to lose 24-hour coverage come October? Don’t have rumors, be clear and be transparent with the people.”

Former mayor Rick Scholl told KOIN 6, at the time Massey’s comments came as a complete surprise.

“I don’t know how she gets all this information about our police before we would. It was just shocking to me, I was like, ‘what? This is the first I've heard of this.’”

Scholl said his office raised the police budget from $2.4 million when he started as mayor to $6 million when he left office. He also said an audit found St. Helens Police had more officers than other comparable cities. 

“They put this community in jeopardy with no 24-hour service to make a statement against me and John Walsh that we weren’t funding the police,” he said. “The [Jim Band investigation into Greenway] report says they wanted me unelected and the City Administrator fired, that was the objective.”

On October 1, 2024, St. Helens Police suspended 24-hour coverage, as Massey predicted. The suspension was confirmed by former Chief Greenway in a TV interview the next day. 

According to Hogue's complaint, on October 7, 2024, Hogue was named Acting Police Chief after Greenway was placed on administrative leave. Twenty-four-hour police coverage was restored shortly after.

 “I talked to Jen about it, because I was like, ‘Why are we having 24-hour coverage all of a sudden in such a short span?'” said Jennifer Gilbert, who said she helped with Massey’s campaign. “I said, ‘you better not have done this.’”

Gilbert told KOIN 6 News the loss of the coverage was a major part of Massey’s campaign.

Recalling a text thread between the pair from October, Gilbert read, “She [Massey] said to me, ‘The issue is you're trying to over complicate the schedule. The fact we have allegedly 24-hour coverage now it's all optics, it's a political ploy.’” 

“To which I replied, ‘So, this other person wasn't confused either?’ and she said, ‘No, we totally conspired on that text, it's the same email he sent to the interim chief.’”

 “I thought that she had the public, and the police specifically, in her best interest. So, to hear that she was actually working against some members, and that this really seemed to be all for her race to get her elected, I felt betrayed. I was upset, and my name was behind her so, I took it very personally,” she said.

In response to KOIN 6’s request for comment on the text messages and complaint, City Administrator John Walsh wrote, “Due to ongoing litigation, the City cannot comment at this time. When appropriate and upon advice from legal counsel, the City will provide information to the media and public.”

As the City remains tied up in litigation, Gilbert said she hopes the complaint going to the DOJ may provide some answers. 

“If we go through a court of law, and she did do this, I think she should be removed from office. This was a terrible thing to do, and I think she should be replaced with somebody ethical.”

Jenny Hansson, communications director with the Office of Attorney General Dan Rayfield, confirmed the Oregon Department of Justice received the referral on April 8 but declined to comment further.