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County deputy faces assault probe By Jessica Smith Jackson County sheriff�s officials removed a deputy from patrol duty earlier this month after he allegedly assaulted his girlfriend during a domestic dispute. Craig Douglas Smith, 43, of Gold Hill, was placed on paid administrative leave June 2 after the department received a report implicating Smith in the alleged assault, Sheriff Bob Kennedy confirmed Saturday. Smith will remain on leave at least until the sheriff�s office and the Oregon State Police finish investigating the case, Kennedy said. The sheriff�s office turned the criminal investigation over to state police detectives, a common practice when a law enforcement agency receives a criminal complaint against one of its own employees. Kennedy said Saturday he could not shed much light on the case. "We don�t have any reports or anything yet," he added. "I just can�t say (what happened) until we get the reports." OSP detectives charged Smith with fourth-degree domestic assault June 2, according to a Jackson County Jail log. He is scheduled to appear in court Thursday. Neither Smith nor the OSP detectives handling the investigation could be reached for comment. Kennedy said the alleged assault happened while Smith was off duty June 2, but that Smith reportedly visited his girlfriend later during his shift and the two had another argument. This is the second time Smith, who has worked four years at the sheriff�s office, has been placed on paid leave. In September 1997, he was charged with domestic assault for alleged excessive force when he pinned his daughter to a wall with his forearm after she made "inappropriate comments" to her mother. The Grants Pass Police Department investigated that case and collected enough evidence for Josephine County prosecutors to schedule a trial. After several delays, however, prosecutors dropped the charges in October 1998. Kennedy said an internal investigation turned up no evidence that Smith did anything wrong in that case, but Smith was on paid leave for a year while the case lagged in Josephine County. The sheriff�s department will conduct an internal review of the present charge against Smith once deputies receive information from the state police, Kennedy said. "If we can prove he committed an assault ... he�s history," Kennedy said. Obituaries | Sports | Business | Classifieds | Tempo | Prime Times | So Oregon Sites | Outdoor Journal | Subscribe | Contact | Movies | Advertise | Real Estate Showcase | Archive | Editorials | Letters to the editor | Religion | Wake-up Call | NIE | Cyber Chef | Job Network | So Oregon Weather | WSJ Northwest | Forums | AP Wire | AP Money | F.A.Q. | Awards Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. The Community Newspaper Subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co, Inc Copyright �The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA