Former Sheriff’s Office detective sues Whatcom County for harassment, retaliation
Whatcom County is being sued by a former Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office detective who alleges she was subjected to sexual harassment, discrimination and retaliation in the workplace. Sheriff Donnell Tanksley and two WCSO officers are also named as defendants.
The lawsuit was filed by Det. Samantha Robinson in Skagit County Superior Court on Wednesday. Robinson put in her notice of resignation the day prior due to constructive discharge, which alleges that an employer creates or knowingly permits such bad working conditions that a reasonable person would have to resign. It’s legally considered a wrongful termination.
Tanksley said he is aware of Robinson’s complaints, and “facilitated an internal investigation conducted by a third party.”
“We can’t comment on the findings of this internal investigation because it’s still active,” Tanksley said in a statement to The Herald.
Robinson was hired by WSCO in 2015. The lawsuit alleges that she was the subject of sex-based derogatory statements during the hiring process, with the then-undersheriff making a comment that Robinson “looked like she would cause someone to have an affair.”
He then reprimanded her after she was hired for allegedly using marijuana in the past, but did not do the same to another male employee who, like Robinson, was waiting to attend the Police Academy. The lawsuit called this a “bully-tactic” to “intimidate, manipulate and assert dominance over Robinson because she is a woman.”
Two years later, when Robinson was a deputy, she was selected for a crisis negotiator position in the Sheriff’s Office. The lawsuit alleges that colleagues said or implied that she’s “slept her way to the top,” and one filed a grievance stating that he should have been selected instead.
This made Robinson “live in constant fear that she would continue to be targeted, humiliated and undermined because she is a woman,” the lawsuit states.
Other allegations of discrimination, retaliation
The lawsuit lays out other instances in which Robinson said she was discriminated against because of her gender. In one case, Robinson was helping to recover stolen Halloween costumes. One of the costumes was a kilt with a prosthetic penis underneath, and a male colleague allegedly threw it so that the penis hit Robinson in the face.
In another instance, Robinson was helping to search a storage unit for items stolen from a sex shop, and her supervisor allegedly hit her across the face with a dildo. Both times, her male colleagues laughed at her.
In 2024, Robinson filed a complaint against Undersheriff Steve Harris due to alleged harassment. An investigation determined that Harris was not at fault for the allegations, which the lawsuit says was “erroneous.”
After the filing of the complaint, Robinson said she experienced “increased hostility and discrimination.” She said she was pressured to accept a job in a new Internet Crimes Against Children unit without training and equipment, and the job began to affect her mental health.
She claims her request to leave the unit was denied. She started having panic attacks and was diagnosed with PTSD, according to the lawsuit.
These “unlawful acts” were “punctuated” by an AI-generated video allegedly created in April 2025 by Det. Derek Jones, who is named as a defendant in the lawsuit. The fake video showing Robinson and Jones’ father having sex allegedly was distributed to all detectives and patrol officers.
Robinson complained to Lt. Keith Linderman, another defendant, about the video, but the lawsuit states that Jones’ conduct was never investigated until Robinson filed a tort claim in court. The lawsuit alleges that Jones retaliated against Robinson for complaining about the fabricated video by making false allegations against her.
The lawsuit
All defendants named in the lawsuit are accused of sex discrimination, sexual harassment, retaliation, disability discrimination — for both reasonable accommodation and disparate treatment — and wrongful termination. Whatcom County is accused of negligent supervision, and Jones is accused of invasion of privacy and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Because of these actions, Robinson said her damages are “significant and ongoing.” They include economic losses, damages to her reputation and emotional and psychological distress. She is seeking monetary damages in an amount to be determined at trial.
This story was originally published February 24, 2026 at 12:17 PM.