A recent report by an independent investigator concluded that James “Mac” McLaughlin, a detective lieutenant and SWAT commander with the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office, was dishonest with top brass about misconduct stemming from a February SWAT raid that heated up the sheriff race between McLaughlin and Interim Sheriff Ty Rupert.
Jim Band, a third-party investigator and former Oregon City police chief, hired by Rupert, recommended that McLaughlin be fired for violating DCSO policies that also involve misconduct and insubordination.
Reached by phone, McLaughlin referred the Source to statements his attorney Randy Harvey had previously issued to news outlets — notably that they intend to file a federal lawsuit against Deschutes County for releasing his investigatory records to news outlets, in violation of his First and 14th Amendment rights. Since Aug. 26, McLaughlin has been on federal family medical leave, a status that suspends due process until McLaughlin’s planned return on Nov. 19 — about two weeks after the Nov. 3 General Election. McLaughlin said the only other time he’d been internally investigated was for failing to appear at a motion to suppress hearing around 2008.
In response to Band’s report, on Sept. 23, McLaughlin published an 80-page transcript of a July 28 interview he sat for with Band. That transcript, which the Source has reviewed, illustrates heightened intrigue and politicking at the sheriff’s office. Many of Band’s conclusions are corroborated with supporting documents the Source received with Band’s original report.
Band cleared McLaughlin of accusations that he visited a prisoner in the Deschutes County Adult Jail to retrieve a hot-mic Ring video. Band also proved that patrol deputies hadn’t colluded to stick the prisoner, Paul Akehurst, in solitary confinement; that isolation was due to both Akehurst’s initial request and subsequent behavior in the jail.
McLaughlin, a 19-year DCSO veteran, was also cleared of the accusation that he allowed deputies to search beyond the scope of a warrant.
Band, in reviewing drone footage of the entire arrest, also cleared DCSO SWAT members of the allegation that a deputy stuck a gun in the back of suspect Akehurst after he’d submitted to his arrest.
But the figurative smoking gun of Band’s investigation involves a discipline memorandum McLaughlin wrote regarding Deputy Michael Mangin’s alleged conduct at the raid. According to meta data retrieved during the investigation, McLaughlin postponed sending that memo to the deputy’s patrol lieutenant for about three months. McLaughlin ultimately was placed on paid leave on June 5 and never sent that memo.
In the memo, which McLaughlin began and finished on March 6, McLaughlin wrote that he’d verbally counseled Mangin about the deputy’s misconduct, which was captured Feb. 25 by homeowner Kelli Hayes’ Ring camera, shortly after the SWAT arrest of a friend at her home.
In Mangin’s discipline memo, McLaughlin noted that Mangin called Hayes “a real f*cking bitch” and said the deputy floated the idea of trumping up an aiding-and-abetting charge against her. Mischaracterizing the interaction in the memo, McLaughlin wrote that he replied, “something similar to, ‘let’s just take the win, but I love your passion.’”
What McLaughlin really said was, “Your vindicticism [sic] knows no bounds. I love it.” Further in the memo, McLaughlin characterizes Hayes’ anger as solely directed at Mangin, but subsequent texts and phone conversations between Hayes and McLaughlin underscore the fact that McLaughlin knew she was mad at him, too — chiefly for laughing at Mangin’s comments.
In their subsequent April 22 complaint, Hayes and Lorena Akehurst, the mother of Paul Akehurst (the subject of the SWAT raid), also told Jail Lt. Christopher Gibson about the Ring camera conversation. Additionally, Hayes sought remuneration for the damage the SWAT vehicles allegedly did to her septic line. The complaint memo reached Lt. Blair Barkhurst, the DCSO professional standards unit manager, who referred it to Sheriff Rupert on May 27.
Damage control or granting closure?
In a long text thread that began on Feb. 26, the day after the SWAT raid, McLaughlin and the homeowner, Hayes, recalled the shock of discovering that they knew each other, after McLaughlin discovered photographs of Hayes’ late husband during the raid. The three belonged to the same church community for more than two decades, yet lost touch in recent years. They also texted at length about their shared Christianity.
In a March 30 email, Patrol Lt. Chris Erhardt reminded McLaughlin to forward the discipline memo about Dep. Mangin so it could be placed in his file. According to meta data included in Band’s report, McLaughlin opened and viewed the memo about Mangin a final time on May 26, shortly before taking a planned family vacation.
In his interviews with investigator Band, McLaughlin said it was obvious that he wasn’t trying to cover anything up in communicating with Hayes, since she had called through dispatch. On March 5, McLaughlin told Capt. Michael Sundberg about Hayes’ complaint about Dep. Mangin, later meeting with other lieutenants, telling them he would handle the complaint. McLaughlin didn’t mention that Hayes was also upset about his role in Mangin’s statements.
McLaughlin told Band that he didn’t immediately send the disciplinary memo because some DCSO lieutenants had become antagonistic since he announced his run for sheriff. Additionally, McLaughlin said he knew that Mangin’s annual review wasn’t scheduled until December, and he’d intended to have the discipline memo to Mangin’s supervisor after McLaughlin returned from vacation.
Interim Sheriff Rupert placed McLaughlin, Mangin and Patrol Sgt. David Turkington on paid leave on June 5, according to recent state police records. Rupert publicized the action, without naming the employees, in a press release and social media posts. That is not standard DCSO policy.
On June 6, McLaughlin outed himself on his campaign’s social media page, calling the investigation “political theater” and an example of the systemic problems that have plagued the sheriff’s office with each election cycle.
Over the course of the three-hour interview with Band, McLaughlin made the case that the hot-mic moment is understandably upsetting, yet, he was not aware of Mangin’s frequent contact and threats to the Akehurst family and Hayes. McLaughlin explained to Band that because Mangin is in the patrol division and McLaughlin is in the detective division, he’d only supervised him twice, when Mangin volunteered to take part in SWAT missions.
Beyond the headlines, McLaughlin and Rupert will soon face off in a very public forum. They’ll convene at the Sept. 30 installment of KTVZ’s Decision 2026 Central Oregon Debates at the Deschutes County Service Building at 6 p.m., in a forum moderated by Lee Anderson. The live broadcast panel includes Spencer Sacks, KTVZ’s political reporter, and Aaron Switzer, founder and publisher of the Source.
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