With the settlement of a $1.5 million lawsuit against Caldwell Police Chief Rex Ingram finalized, attorneys for the former police officer who brought claims of sexual harassment are asking for the outside investigation into those allegations to be publicized.
For 18 months, Allison Butler endured “harassment, discrimination and possessive punishment” from Ingram, court filings published this month alleged. When it was clear that the chief wouldn’t relent, her attorneys wrote, she complained to then-Caldwell Mayor Jarom Wagoner — someone “she trusted to hold the chief accountable.”
Instead, the city, including Wagoner, went “out of their way to hide the findings from the investigation,” wrote one of Butler’s attorneys, Erika Birch. The city and the mayor misrepresented the investigation’s findings and misled the public — including their own employees — into believing the probe didn’t support the accusations against the police chief, Butler’s attorneys asserted.
Ingram, who took over the department’s top job in 2022, told the Idaho Statesman last month that he strongly denies any wrongdoing, adding that the settlement included no admission of liability, fault or wrongdoing on his part or on the part of the police department…