By Cody Mann
Albany Democrat-Herald, Ore.
ALBANY, Ore. — A Linn County Sheriff’s Office jail deputy who resigned three years ago is banned from public safety work in Oregon for life for misconduct and dishonesty related to drug use.
Hired in April 2018, Troy Page left the Sheriff’s Office on Oct. 30, 2020, after admitting he falsified information and lied during a background investigation for employment and an internal investigation, according to Oregon Department of Public Safety Standards and Training documents.
The department oversees the certification of public safety employees in the state. Page’s basic corrections officer certification was revoked by the agency for life during an agency meeting Thursday, Oct. 26 because he lacks “moral fitness.”
Linn County Sheriff’s Office leadership learned in August 2020 that Page had been using heroin and abusing Percocet in 2016, and was abusing the painkiller Tramadol after he was prescribed it in 2018, according to Public Safety Standards and Training documents.
A 2019 workplace incident in which Page was hospitalized may have resulted from taking too much Tramadol, the documents state.
A woman related to a Sheriff’s Office lieutenant who was ending a domestic relationship with Page reported the drug use, the documents state, noting she was worried information coming out of that legal process might threaten his job.
The woman said Page began “acting weird” after moving in with her, falling asleep standing up, slurring his words and scratching, according to the documents. She reportedly confronted him, and he eventually admitted to heroin use, the documents state.
In addition to being dishonest, Page failed to tell his superiors he knew some of the people incarcerated in the Linn County Jail, and also failed to disclose he’d been pulled over by police while in a car with a person possessing heroin, the documents state.
Page was also associating with known felons in violation of Sheriff’s Office policy, the documents state, including at least one who was supplying him with heroin.
A jail inmate told officials Page would drive her to pick up heroin in Salem, and she had used the narcotic with Page “about 50 times,” according to the documents, stating the inmate was “shocked” to see Page at the jail, adding his drug use was no secret among the jail population.
In November 2020, the Department of Public Safety Standards and Training opened a professional standards case to review Page’s departure from employment. The Corrections Policy Committee was unanimous, minus one recusal, in recommending Page be stripped of his certification for life.
Page was apparently a standout in his academy training, serving as the class coordinator and earning two noteworthy awards.
He received the Victor G. Atiyeh Award, highlighting earned respect from staff, students and instructors through leadership, motivation and encouragement, distinguished academic achievement, a commitment to wellness, exemplary personal appearance and an outstanding demeanor. Page was also awarded the Dr. Ernest M. Ogard Jr. Award for Scholastic Achievement.
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