The former facilities and security manager of a Hood River hospital is suing retired District Attorney John Sewell, accusing him of trumping up a criminal charge against her because she and her staff placed parking notices on his wife’s car.
The suit filed by Celeste Richardson alleges Sewell pursued a malicious prosecution against her in 2020, violating her constitutional rights and causing her intentional distress.
When Sewell first showed up at the hospital to serve her with a criminal citation, Richardson told The Oregonian/OregonLive that she thought, “This can’t be happening….How could I be charged with a felony for doing my job?”
Her suit, filed Thursday afternoon in federal court in Portland, seeks reimbursement of unspecified attorney fees and punitive damages to deter future unwarranted prosecutions.
“He acted in an arbitrary manner with a vindictive motive and to further his own personal agenda,” Richardson’s attorney, Beth Creighton, wrote in the lawsuit.
Sewell’s wife, Elese Sewell, is an emergency room nurse at Providence Hood River Memorial Hospital, the same hospital where Richardson worked.
John Sewell did not return messages seeking comment.
Sewell, who lost reelection in 2020 as Hood River County district attorney and retired on Jan. 4, 2021, has defended his actions to the state bar, which is investigating his conduct.
He has argued that there was “ample, indisputable evidence to support the prosecution” of Richardson for her “misguided parking enforcement activities.”
Sewell’s wife had threatened to sue the hospital after she received hospital warnings placed on her car parked on a residential street next to the hospital in October 2020, according to an investigation by the Deschutes County District Attorney’s Office. The current Hood River district attorney sought the outside review.
This is a copy of the criminal citation then-Hood River County District Attorney John T. Sewell drafted and personally delivered to a security manager at Providence Hood River Memorial Hospital in December 2020.
The hospital had a “good neighbor” parking agreement to ensure those living in the immediate area surrounding the hospital would have access to street parking, according to the suit.
Hospital employees were told to park in one of the two parking structures close to the hospital and its security services were responsible for enforcing the agreement, according to the suit. Security placed notices on cars to inform drivers they were in violation of the hospital policy. The notices instructed the driver to contact Providence’s security services by phone, the suit said.
Sewell showed up at the hospital on Dec. 2, 2020, interrupting a meeting Richardson was conducting and told her to call him later that day, according to the suit. When she did, he threatened to arrest her on a warrant if she didn’t meet him to receive a citation, according to the suit.
Sewell returned to the hospital that day, and, in front of one or more other Providence employees, handed Richardson a criminal citation and summons, accusing her of simulating legal process, a felony, the suit said.
Sewell had no legal authority or probable cause to charge Richardson with a felony and his actions were in retaliation for the parking notices that his wife had received, the lawsuit argues.
Sewell’s successor, District Attorney Carrie Rasmussen, dismissed the criminal charge against Richardson the first day she took over the office, about a month after the charge was filed.
During the month the charge was pending, Richardson said she was stressed about what would happen to her state certification to serve as security if Sewell continued to pursue her prosecution.
Rasmussen later asked Deschutes County District Attorney John Hummel to investigate Sewell.
Hummel concluded Sewell’s actions were unethical and an obvious conflict of interest and found that Sewell lacked any legal justification to charge Richardson. But Hummel said Sewell’s actions didn’t amount to a crime.
Richardson said she’s disturbed Sewell wasn’t charged with misconduct and was angered that “someone in power has control and can do whatever they want.”
“I feel like I was put through the wringer, professionally and emotionally, and he hasn’t been held accountable for that,” she said.
Richardson, 46, transferred from the Providence hospital in Hood River in July 2021 to a Providence hospital in Alaska, where she works as an emergency preparedness and safety coordinator. She said she’s worked for Providence for 13 years and the company has supported her throughout her career.
— Maxine Bernstein
Email at mbernstein@oregonian.com; 503-221-8212
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