Sheriff Troyer must stay 1,000 feet away from newspaper carrier for 1 year, judge rules

A Pierce County judge ordered Sheriff Ed Troyer to stay 1,000 feet away from the Black newspaper carrier he confronted in January 2021 beginning Monday for one year following reports Troyer continued to surveil the man on his paper route.

That ruling is on top of the no-contact order already in place between Troyer and Sedrick Altheimer, the newspaper carrier, in connection to misdemeanor charges filed against the sheriff last year.

Altheimer filed for an anti-harassment protection order against Troyer in Pierce County District Court late last month. In a virtual hearing Monday, he said Troyer followed his vehicle while he was delivering papers after 1 a.m. as recently as April 27.

He said he decided to quit his job due to the alleged harassment and the fear that contact with Troyer has caused him. He said the sheriff made eye contact while passing his car, followed his vehicle and flashed his high beams at him.

“I don’t feel safe no more,” Altheimer said as he broke into tears in court via Zoom.

Troyer’s attorney, John Sheeran, said the sheriff denies any continued contact with Altheimer except for a chance encounter outside Troyer’s father’s house earlier this year. Sheeran said Troyer did not recognize Altheimer that day until the newspaper carrier identified himself.

In a statement after the hearing, Sheeran said the interaction was brief and non-confrontational. Altheimer said in court it left him shaking and nervous.

“Sheriff Troyer has not done anything to warrant the court entering an anti-harassment order,” Sheeran wrote in the statement.

Pierce County District Court Judge pro-tem Christine Ong said Altheimer presented ample testimony to prove otherwise.

Troyer’s continued surveillance of Altheimer despite no-contact provisions in the criminal case “suggest a disregard for the law,” Ong said. She said the number of contacts Altheimer reported amounts to a pattern of unlawful harassment

“Considering the power that an individual like Sheriff Troyer holds, the anxiety and the harassment, you have to know that that is going to have an impact on someone like Mr. Altheimer,” Ong said. “That there is an intended effect when you’re out at 1 to 2 a.m. knowing that Mr. Altheimer will be out there and you’re repeatedly trolling the neighborhood.”

While under oath, Altheimer said he’s avoided passing Troyer’s house since their January 2021 encounter.

“There’s a paper that I’m supposed to deliver across the street from him and they haven’t gotten the paper since,” he said.

Troyer declined to make any statements in court Monday citing the ongoing criminal case against him. Citing the advice of his attorney, he initially did not appear for the hearing. Sheeran filed a motion to delay it on Monday morning.

“That is very concerning to me,” Ong said of the last-minute motion that she was not able to review prior to proceedings. She added, “And it’s beyond me why Mr. Troyer is not present today.”

Ong called for a recess until Troyer joined via Zoom.

Sheeran asked Ong to postpone the hearing until after the completion of the criminal case due to the potential for testimony to overlap. But Ong said the underlying facts of the criminal case merely establish that Altheimer and Troyer know each other and there is a separate set of facts pertaining to their more recent encounters.

Ong added that the no-contact order from the criminal case has not been sufficient to protect Altheimer and a misdemeanor conviction of Troyer would not necessarily offer him any additional security.

Altheimer said in his anti-harassment order filing that his recent encounters with Troyer have become more frequent and lasted longer.

“They are getting more aggressive as the date for Mr. Troyer’s criminal case approaches,” said Altheimer’s attorney, Vonda Sargent, in court Monday.

The Washington State Attorney General’s Office charged Troyer in October with false reporting and making a false or misleading statement to a public servant, both misdemeanors. The case is scheduled to go to trial this October.

That case was sparked when Troyer used a phone line only for law enforcement to report he’d caught Altheimer in his driveway and the newspaper carrier threatened to kill him, prompting a massive police response.

Troyer has repeatedly denied wrongdoing during the incident and resisted calls to resign.

Altheimer filed a $5 million federal lawsuit against the county following the run-in with Troyer, alleging emotional distress from the “racial profiling, false arrest and unnecessary use of excessive force of this man whose only crime was ‘being a black man in a white neighborhood.’” That case has been postponed until Troyer’s criminal case is completed.

“It is unfortunate that today the pro tem judge decided to take the word of a person highly motivated by a pending civil lawsuit over a public servant with 37 years of dedicated service protecting the people of Pierce County,” Sheeran wrote in a statement. “Sheriff Troyer will continue to serve the public as he was elected to do. He looks forward to a jury vindicating him.”