AG’S Office denies information request on Sheriff investigation

BLACKFOOT — The Idaho Attorney General’s Office has denied a request for information regarding its investigation of the Bingham County Sheriff.

Monday afternoon the Bingham County Prosecutor’s Office informed the public that Bingham County Sheriff Craig T. Rowland is currently under investigation by the Idaho Attorney General’s Office for an incident that occurred while Rowland was off-duty.

The Attorney General’s Office denied, in part, a records request from Community Pioneer for documents pertaining to the investigation.

“It is denied to the extent that other responsive materials are part of an active investigation and, as such, are exempt from disclosure under Idaho Code 74-15(1), which provides that active investigatory records are exempt from disclosure where disclosure would interfere with an enforcement proceeding or deprive a person of a right to a fair trial as provided in Idaho Code …,” the letter said.

The Attorney General’s Office granted Community Pioneer the Agreement on Prosecutorial/Investigative Assistance Request letter sent to Bingham County Prosecutor Paul Rogers.

The document shows that Rogers asked the Attorney General’s Office to investigate the incident involving Rowland and that the Attorney General’s Office agreed.

“The Idaho Attorney General’s Office is investigating and reviewing for prosecution the above case/matter as a potential action against a county elected officer under Idaho Code 31-2002,” the letter said.

Some other news outlets have published information about the incident based on information from unnamed sources. Community Pioneer’s policy is to only use anonymous sources if the information is corroborated by witnesses or authorities willing to go on the record, or if revealing the source’s name would create a clear and present danger to them.

Community Pioneer will continue to follow this story and report varified information as it becomes available.