Former Sandy cop jailed
Bill Bergin is indicted by a Clackamas County grand jury on three counts including one felony
An investigation by the Gresham Police Department has alleged that a Sandy police officer obtained revoked, cancelled or suspended driver’s licenses and gave them to a friend who may have used them so that minors could enter places where alcoholic beverages are sold.
Bill Bergin, a former officer with the Sandy Police Department, was indicted by a Clackamas County grand jury this week. Bergin turned himself in to the Clackamas County Jail Thursday, Nov. 13.
He has been charged with felony identity theft, first-degree official misconduct and use of an invalid driver’s license, according to Chief Deputy District Attorney Greg Horner.
“We’re talking about one discreet event,” said Deputy District Attorney Mike Regan, “with three alternative theories to allege. Identity theft means using someone else’s identity with intent to defraud; Official misconduct is engaging in conduct not authorized in his official duties, with intent to harm another or benefit himself or another. And the license charge is using another person’s license when you know it has been cancelled or revoked.”
Regan said the incident allegedly occurred while Bergin was an employee of the Sandy Police Department, but not necessarily while he was on duty.
“Bergin is alleged to have kept driver’s licenses in his coffee table drawer and then given two of them to an under-age friend of his to use to get into bars,” Regan said. “As a cop, he knows he’s never supposed to do that. He wasn’t supposed to keep the licenses or give them to anyone.”
The investigation into Bergin’s activities began when one of the witnesses in the investigation of former Clackamas County Sheriff’s Deputy Brandon Claggett gave information that accused Bergin of illegal actions.
That’s when the Gresham Police Department was asked to do an external investigation of Bergin in the Sandy Police Department. While that was occurring, Bergin was given leave. He later resigned. The investigation results went directly to the district attorney’s office, which sent them to the grand jury.
Bergin spent two hours at the jail Thursday, according to a spokesperson at the jail, and then was allowed to leave without posting $40,000 bail because there was not enough room in the jail.
He is scheduled to appear in a Clackamas County Circuit Court before Judge Steven L. Mauer Thursday, Dec. 11.
Bergin was involved with another officer in the killing of an unarmed man in 2005, but was cleared of wrongdoing in the man’s death. He also was arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated in 2007.
In both incidents, he was placed on administrative leave while the investigations were conducted. For the DUII arrest, he received disciplinary action, according to Sandy Police Chief Harold Skelton.
By February of this year, Skelton characterized his officer as “100 percent fit for duty, stable and positive.”
Skelton was out of state at a conference Friday and unavailable for comment. Sgt. David Lundervold was off-duty Friday and did not return calls to the Post.