No criminal charges will be filed against a Clark County legal secretary accused of sending threatening emails, hinting that he wanted to shoot someone in the prosecutor’s office, according to a press release from his defense attorney.
Matthew Blaine Kozlowski, 45, of Vancouver was arrested earlier this month following a review of a string of emails about a discipline hearing in February.
The state Attorney General’s Office, which was prosecuting the case, confirmed Thursday it would not bring any charges, according to Kozlowski’s attorney, Dave Gross of the Pinnacle Law Group.
Gross said in an interview that the state Attorney General’s Office submitted a letter to law enforcement explaining the decision. He said he was told he will receive a copy of the letter at a previously scheduled arraignment hearing Tuesday. Clark County Prosecutor Tony Golik said he received a copy of the letter.
Kozlowski had appeared in Clark County Superior Court on April 7 to be arraigned. However, the hearing was pushed back because the prosecution had not yet received the complete police report.
Kozlowski potentially faced felony harassment allegations for speaking out at a Feb. 26 meeting attended by former chief deputy prosecutor John Fairgrieve and other members of the prosecutor’s staff at the Public Service Center. He has been an employee in the prosecutor’s office for 13 years.
Due to the conflict of interest, the case was referred to the state Attorney General’s Office.
Golik and Chief Criminal Prosecutor Scott Jackson were investigating Kozlowski’s work performance, which included reviewing some 1,776 work emails exchanged between Feb. 23 and March 18, according to documents filed in Superior Court.
The investigation began after Kozlowski’s Loudermill hearing — an opportunity in which unionized government employees can tell their story before discipline decisions.
Kozlowski was suspended from work for three days, which he served before returning to work and receiving another performance-based complaint. This complaint led prosecutors to review his work emails.
In the emails, Kozlowski allegedly said he would go “postal” at the discipline hearing and bring “Smith and Wesson” with him, according to court records. The emails were exchanged with four other legal secretaries. All of the secretaries said they believed Kozlowski was joking, but the sheriff’s office investigated and ultimately arrested him.
“As a former prosecutor, I never thought there was probable cause in that statement and certainly no justification to arrest him without judicial approval,” Gross said.
“These emails were an informal exchange between friends and co-workers. They were intended to be humorous, and there was absolutely no criminal intent. The idea that a remark about an event scheduled for Feb. 26 could make anyone feel threatened more than a month later when they finally read about it is absurd on its face. That conclusion was borne out (Thursday) by the Attorney General’s Office. We are just grateful that the attorney general upheld the law and saw this for what it was,” Gross added in a written statement.
It is still unclear if Kozlowski will return to work in the prosecutor’s office.
Golik said “the decision to not file criminal charges is separate from (Kozlowski’s) employment issues.”
Kozlowski is currently on administrative leave, and a final decision about his employment has not yet been made. Golik said he anticipates a decision will be reached within a week.
