Staff report

The Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission revoked the certificate of former San Juan County Sheriff Detective Stephen Parker on June 26.

Parker, whose last known address is in Fort Myers, Florida, did not return to Washington state to contest the charges against him and the revocation occurred by default.

Parker was the lead detective on a case that charged and convicted former Orcas High School teacher Gerald Grellet-Tinner of sexual misconduct with a student in 2016 in San Juan County Superior Court. The charges and conviction were thrown out the following year after a report alleged that Parker was having relations with the same student during the investigation and trial. Parker resigned and moved to Florida in 2016 without facing any criminal charges.

In 2017, the Skagit County Prosecutor’s Office (the third party that investigated Parker’s relationship with the victim) declined to file charges against Parker. In an April 22 edition of the Seattle Times, San Juan County Prosecuting Attorney Randy Gaylord and the Skagit prosecutor blamed each other for not filing charges.

In June 2018, Grellet-Tinner sought to charge Parker with the gross misdemeanors of making a false or misleading statement to a public servant and obstructing a law enforcement officer after Parker signed a voluntary witness statement to Skagit County Sheriff’s Office on Aug. 8, 2016. In the document, Parker stated he had never had any type of relationship — physical, sexual or emotional — with the victim involved in Grellet-Tinner’s case. Investigators later concluded Parker had an inappropriate relationship with the victim.

San Juan County District Court Judge Stewart Andrew rejected the petition on June 20, writing “The prosecutor’s office has shown no bad faith or inappropriate reasons for not filing charges against Mr. Parker.”