Spokane police Officer Jeff Graves faces stalking, harassment claims

A Spokane police officer is on administrative leave following criminal allegations of stalking and harassment.

A search warrant details a messy break-up and accusations of harassment between Officer Jeff Graves and a woman he had an affair with, as he told Spokane County Sheriff’s Office detectives. The investigation prompted the Spokane Police Department to remove Graves from patrol May 9, according to police spokeswoman Monique Cotton.

Graves and the woman met on Facebook, she told Detective Kirk Keyser. She claims Graves used Facebook to find her apartment and harass her. She said he came to her apartment and workplace, called her, texted her and messaged her on Facebook. His messages were sexually aggressive, according to the search warrant.

Graves did not deny his involvement with the woman but told detectives the woman was harassing him. He said he and the woman messaged, texted and called each other.

The investigation is ongoing and no criminal charges have been filed.

The woman told Keyser the Facebook messages spanned from early April to early May. Although she forwarded some of the Facebook messages to friends, she deleted his text messages, she told Keyser.

Although the search warrant is focused on the possible charges of stalking and harassment, the woman also alleged to detectives that Graves had sex with her without her consent. However, Detective Andy Buell did not present sexual crime as a probable cause to a judge when obtaining permission to search Facebook, phone and email records.

Graves said he believes the woman attempted to access his phone records by logging into his Verizon account. He said his mobile provider told him there had been three attempts to log into his account online, prompting him to lock down his account.

Graves also told detectives he believes a series of anonymous emails sent to him and his wife are from the woman. He described the messages as harassing and similar in nature to the text messages she sent him.

The police officer gave a copy of his phone records to detectives, the search warrant said. The record shows several calls and messages between Graves and the woman.

The woman, who has since deleted her Facebook account, forwarded messages from Graves to two sheriff’s deputies and a Yakima dispatcher, court documents show.

Graves earned the Spokane Police Department’s Lifesaving Award in 2010 for reviving a man who collapsed at a bus stop by performing CPR until paramedics arrived.