In our ongoing commitment to government transparency, The Olympic Herald is releasing the complete, sworn deposition of former Sequim School Board Director Jim Stoffer. As we detailed in our previous investigative report on the Sequim School District’s decades-long cover-up, the truth is frequently buried beneath bureaucratic deflection

A recently obtained Office for Civil Rights complaint and internal correspondence outline allegations of a coordinated campaign by Quillayute Valley School District leadership to silence a family reporting abuse. Coming just weeks after a federal jury ordered the district to pay $250,000 for cultivating a hostile work environment, the

On paper, the Sequim School District boasts robust anti-discrimination policies, dedicated Title IX coordinators, and strict procedures mandating swift, five-day turnarounds for harassment investigations. In reality, the district spent decades looking the other way. What began in the 1990s as a failure to monitor predators eventually hardened into

For a victim of domestic abuse, the legal system is supposed to offer an exit strategy. A swift, permanent protection order creates the only legally enforceable boundary between a victim and their abuser. In Clallam County, however, the administration of justice operates with a brutal, two-tiered double standard. For

Editor’s Note: The Olympic Herald plans to publish multiple articles related to our recent investigation into the Quillayute Valley School District. Tips can sent to anthony@olympicherald.com Behind the locked doors of the Quillayute Valley School District and the private offices of the local LDS wards, a troubling

You send your children to school trusting that the adults in charge are vetted, monitored, and held to the highest professional standards. You trust that when rules are broken, there are consequences, and when a threat is identified, it is swiftly removed. But a comprehensive review of more than two

To understand the current crisis within the Clallam County Superior Court, one must look past the recent scandals and examine the foundational ideology of the man at the center of it all. Long before Judge Brent Basden was facing a state investigation for alleged religious bias, and before he was

Just weeks after the Washington State Commission on Judicial Conduct launched a formal investigation into Clallam County Superior Court Judge Brent Basden, his attempts to distance himself from the scandal appear to be a mirage. Recusal in Name Only Following intense public outcry, Judge Basden—a former Stake President for

While Clallam County Superior Court attempted to navigate a catastrophic 18-month backlog in family law cases, then-Presiding Judge Brent Basden turned to “experts” who promote a theory that even its own architects now admit is a failure. Courtroom video obtained by the Olympic Herald reveals that Judge Basden

On March 12, 2026, a lawsuit was filed in a U.S. District Court in Georgia. While the venue is over 2,500 miles away, the defendant’s actions are relevant to residents across Washington state. The lawsuit, Jason Gatewood v. Bainbridge Media, LLC and Carpenter Media Group, LLC, accuses

The arrest of former Clallam County Drug Court Coordinator Johnny Watts during an armed police standoff earlier this week—and his subsequent connection to a massive Kitsap County fentanyl ring—has sparked intense public scrutiny of the Clallam County Superior Court. How does a man with a highly documented, violent

The failure of a recent child welfare bill in Utah has cast a harsh national spotlight on the legal loopholes that allow suspected child abusers to easily evade law enforcement and child protective services. Now, a video from a Washington State courtroom reveals a sitting judge actively encouraging parents to

In an aggressive email that was sent on the evening of November 30, 2020, at 7:45 PM, Clallam County Superior Court Judge Brent Basden took former Clallam Commissioner Bill Peach to task over public comments criticizing the judicial appointment process. The email, bearing the subject line “Judicial Independence,” reveals

Port Angeles attorney Lane Wolfley was stripped of his ability to represent clients before the Social Security Administration nearly a decade ago, yet he continues to draw a lucrative, taxpayer-funded contract from Clallam County. According to federal records, Wolfley, a well-known attorney based in Port Angeles, was officially