The Washington Attorney General’s Office has agreed to review allegations against Washougal Mayor Sean Guard, Clark County Prosecuting Attorney Tony Golik said.
Guard is accused of paying a woman $300 shortly after receiving sexual favors, according to an Aug. 25 Washington State Patrol report. An investigation was conducted after the Washougal Police Department announced it received a complaint against Guard in May.
The Washington State Patrol’s Vancouver office ran the investigation from May 24 to Aug. 2, and Detective Jen Ortiz interviewed Guard and the woman, and secured messages between the two over cellphones and Facebook, according to the state patrol’s report.
The case was forwarded to the Clark County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office for review, and the prosecutor’s office decided to pass it along to another agency.
“If we think there is an actual conflict, or an appearance of conflict, we’ll ask another prosecutor’s office or the (attorney general’s) office to do the review,” Golik said. “In a situation like this, with a local elected official, it’s standard to ask another agency to do the review.”
Golik said the Attorney General’s Office was the only other agency his office reached out to, and it’ll now be up to them to review the case and decide whether or not to bring charges against Guard.
Before the Washougal Police Department announced an investigation into Guard, screenshots spread on social media of alleged conversations he had with a woman.
Shortly after the department received the complaint, Guard withdrew his name from the upcoming November mayoral election. Guard, who was first elected in 2009, had originally filed to run for re-election for what would’ve been his third term in office.
