SPOKANE — A one-time deputy in the Chelan County Sheriff’s Office is suing his former employer in federal court, alleging that he was harassed and discriminated because he no longer attended the same church as several top officers. Aaron Shepard Former Chelan County Sheriff’s Office deputy Aaron Shepard alleges the sheriff’s office did nothing to stop religious discrimination against him that occurred from 2016 to 2022, according to the complaint filed Monday in the Eastern District Court of Washington. His departure from the church and his divorce came after the sheriff’s office promoted a 12-week marriage counseling program by the church in 2015, according to the lawsuit. The sheriff’s office created a video including then-Sheriff Brian Burnett and other law enforcement officers in uniform talking about the marriage counseling retreat, according to the complaint. "The (Sheriff’s Office) continued to instruct and indeed order (Shepard) to attend the marriage counseling at (the church) until the level of proselytizing in Grace City Church" which became too "overbearing and uncomfortable" for Shepard to withstand, according to the lawsuit. Shepard alleges that the sheriff’s office promoted the church’s marriage counseling "wholly by religious considerations because of their religious faith-based approach to management of […]
