A former victim witness coordinator for the Canyon County Sheriff’s Office is suing the sheriff’s office and the county’s sheriff, Kieran Donahue, alleging discrimination and illegal activity.

Aleshea Boals, the plaintiff, filed the lawsuit on April 22 in U.S District Court. She was a victim witness coordinator with the sheriff’s office from 2006 until being terminated on Jan. 26 of this year.

In the lawsuit, Boals said that she became concerned about a detective, Mark Taylor, who she alleges blamed female victims of assault and chose not to believe their reports.

A spokesman with the Canyon County Sheriff’s Office responded to the lawsuit by saying Donahue denies any wrongdoing and “doesn’t intend to otherwise comment except through the legal process.”

Boals said in the lawsuit that during an interview of an alleged rape victim, Taylor chose not to believe her story.

The lawsuit alleges that Taylor took the victim to an interrogation room rather than a room that is suitable for victim services, which is not protocol.

The lawsuit also alleges that Taylor made derogatory comments about the victim’s body, insinuating that she could not have been raped. The victim left the interview in tears and refused to participate in the investigation and prosecution of her case, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit alleges that Taylor did not provide any information to Boals about another victim, as Boals said Taylor is not specifically trained to interview sexual assault victims.

Boals said she did not know Taylor had interviewed the victim, and she was later informed that Taylor was closing the case because he believed the victim was lying. Boals asked about this, she said in the documents, and said Taylor responded by saying that he thought the young woman was a “liar” who was “lying her little butt off.”

Boals later said in the lawsuit that the suspect in the case confessed to the rape.

Later, the lawsuit said, Boals approached Donahue with her concerns about Taylor, after which she was called into a meeting and disciplined by her supervisor, she said.

Boals alleges that she was later scrutinized for her day-to-day activities at work.

“Male employees of CCSO rarely had their hours scrutinized, and they were not questioned when they left the office to do work-related activities,” the lawsuit states. “To the contrary, male detectives frequently left the office to perform work-related tasks, go to the gym or even go for a walk. Yet these detectives were not disciplined or marked down on their annual evaluations for leaving the office, nor were they instructed to inform their supervisors or ask permission prior to doing so.”

“Female employees of CCSO (especially female detectives and secretaries) did have their hours scrutinized, and they were micromanaged when they left work,” it said.

Boals, upset about the way she was allegedly treated by her supervisors after she voiced her concerns, brought the issue to Donahue. The sheriff later sent her emails that said certain things she had done for inmates and victims as part of her job, which hadn’t been an issue before, was “more than enough to justify the immediate for-cause termination of your employment,” according to Donahue in the lawsuit.

Donahue later opened a formal investigation into Boals and subjected her to a polygraph, she said in the lawsuit.

“Sheriff Donahue and CCSO officials have a widespread practice of discriminating against its female employees in the terms and conditions of their employment,” the lawsuit said.

Boals was later terminated on Jan. 26.

She is asking for a jury trial in the lawsuit, coverage of attorney fees and is seeking all other compensation due to lost benefits and damages.