The Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office announced Thursday that two of its jail deputies have been criminally charged with official misconduct for allegedly failing to perform jobs in association with two inmates who died earlier this year.
A sheriff’s office news release did not specify what those duties were, only that deputies James Brauckmiller and Michael Mersereau “may not have performed their job duties as required.” The sheriff’s office also didn’t name the two deceased inmates that the deputies’ alleged inaction may have pertained to.
The sheriff’s office discovered the alleged misconduct while investigating the deaths of the inmates and referred their findings to the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office. Brauckmiller and Mersereau were indicted by a grand jury on Tuesday on one count of first-degree official misconduct, a misdemeanor.
Both deputies already had been on leave. Brauckmiller since Nov. 22 and Mersereau since Aug. 4. Brauckmiller has been with the sheriff’s office for 28 years and Mersereau for three years. They are assigned to the Multnomah County Detention Center in downtown Portland.
Seven inmates have died within the Multnomah County jail system from May to October of this year. That’s an unusually high number.
The sheriff’s office declined to answer questions Thursday.
But in a July statement, Sheriff Nicole Morrisey O’Donnell said “jails are a microcosm of society,” citing the drug-abuse and mental-health crises in the county as likely factors in the deaths. She also said the first five deaths were not “connected to each other.”
As the deaths rose, Morrisey O’Donnell asked Oregon State Police to investigate in August. She also asked the National Institute of Corrections to assess how Multnomah County runs its jails.
The sheriff’s office has focused on contraband narcotics in its public statements about the jail deaths, but records show that at least one person this year at the downtown jail, 31-year-old Allen Walker, died because of internal bleeding caused by an ulcer and not from drugs.
In regards to the two deputies indicted this week, no court date has been yet. Given that Brauckmiller and Mersereau are charged with a misdemeanor, it’s unlikely they would be booked in jail pending the outcome of their court cases.
— Aimee Green; agreen@oregonian.com; @o_aimee
Reporter Zane Sparling contributed to this story.