Chief told city of lawsuit before hire, official admits

Published 9:00 pm Tuesday, January 2, 2007

SNOHOMISH – The city of Snohomish knew in December 2004 that the man it hired to be police chief was entangled in a messy lawsuit at his former job in Florida, an official said Tuesday.

Gordon Wiborg disclosed the existence of the lawsuit during a job interview before he was hired as Snohomish police chief, City Manager Larry Bauman said Tuesday.

Bauman last week said Wiborg didn’t tell the city about the lawsuit until about six months ago. But a review of notes Bauman made during a December 2004 job interview shows Wiborg disclosed the litigation, Bauman said Tuesday.

“I regret this error and apologize to Mr. Wiborg for this misstatement of fact,” Bauman said.

Wiborg, 52, resigned Thursday, citing distraction from the lawsuit, which was filed in North Palm Beach, Fla., four months before he was hired in Snohomish.

The lawsuit alleges that Wiborg, then a police captain, either engaged in or failed to stop a variety of alleged improper conduct involving North Palm Beach police, including sexual harassment of employees, mistreatment of suspects and violation of labor laws, according to court papers.

Wiborg on Dec. 19 obtained a restraining order against the police officer from Florida who brought the lawsuit against him. He had been represented by attorneys working for Snohomish. That ended with his resignation.

A hearing on the restraining order was set for Tuesday but it was continued at Wiborg’s request.