Current Events > Idaho sheriff pulls gun on ding dong ditches, threatens to execute his neighbor

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https://www.krem.com/article/news/crime/idaho-sheriff-craig-rowland-charged-youth-group-gun-bingham-county/277-01e39a94-4c82-4fd2-a61a-05dcca5b9920

BLACKFOOT, Idaho The sheriff of Bingham County is facing felony charges after investigators say he pulled a gun on a group of girls, dragged their youth group leader out of her car by her hair, and threatened to shoot her while holding a gun to her head.
The Idaho Attorney General's Office on Tuesday charged Sheriff Craig Rowland with aggravated battery, aggravated assault, and exhibition of a deadly weapon.
Rowland told Blackfoot Police Chief Scott Gay that he had "really screwed up" during the Nov. 9 confrontation, which happened after a youth group came to his door.
According to a probable cause affidavit, the seven girls, ages 12 to 16, were delivering paper "thankful turkeys" to people around the neighborhood as part of a youth group activity.
The girls would deliver the turkey thank-you notes by taping them to a recipient's door, ringing the doorbell, and running away before the person inside could see who had left the note.
Rowland told investigators that at about 8 p.m., his Yorkie began to bark so he went outside and saw two people running away from his house.
According to the affidavit, the girls returned to their youth leader's car giggling, and told her they had tried to leave the turkey, but had nearly been caught by Craig Rowland so had been unable to deliver it. The group delivered another "thankful turkey" to a house nearby, then returned to the sheriff's home to try again.
Rowland told police that a few minutes after he had seen people running away from his house, his Ring doorbell activated and he heard his front door rattle.
The sheriff said he got his gun, and stepped outside wearing long johns and socks.

The woman supervising the youth group told investigators that the girls returned to her car after leaving the turkey, and she was driving away past the sheriff's home when she saw Rowland standing in the road waving her down.
The youth group leader stopped and opened her car door, illuminating the inside of the car where the seven girls were sitting, and told Rowland that they had just been dropping something off for his wife.
She said Rowland looked into the car, pointed his gun at her, then pointed it at two girls sitting in the front passenger seat. The sheriff then aimed the gun back at her, the woman said, and told her to "get the f-- out of the car," the woman reported.
As she moved to put the vehicle in park, the woman said, Rowland grabbed her by the hair, yanked her from the car, and aimed his gun at her face, holding it just inches from her forehead.
Multiple girls inside the car reported hearing the sheriff ask the woman who she was and say "I will f----shoot you," according to investigators.
The youth group leader, who grew up in the house next to Rowland and considered him a family friend, said she told Rowland her name and that she was his neighbor, but added that the words did not seem to register.
"That's when I really got scared because the gun was still at my head and he didnt know who was," she said, according to the affidavit.
Rowland told police that he did not recognize the woman but she was "terrified," and that he ultimately told her to "get the f--- out of here."
The sheriff admitted to investigators that he had pulled the woman out of her car by the hair and pointed a gun at her, demonstrating aiming it at her head or neck, according to the affidavit.
Rowland said he had had one alcoholic drink earlier in the night, but was not drunk or impaired.
"I had all of my facilities with me, I was clear as a freakin bell," he told investigators.

Rowland told investigators that the recent time change had "really messed me up" and said he was on edge because of interactions he and his wife previously had with members of the community.
"I have been doing this job for 36 years. I've had drunk Indians drive down my cul-de-sac. I've had drunk Indians come to my door," he said. "I live just off the reservation, we have a lot of reservation people around us who are not good people."
Investigators with the attorney general's office reviewed footage captured by the sheriff's Ring doorbell camera, including a video that shows the girls taping the turkey to the door and running away.
In the video, Rowland steps outside, looks at the note, and appears to read the words "thank you" aloud.
"That's frickin' bullsh--," the sheriff says in the video, before calling to his wife to "get my gun."
The Idaho Attorney General's Office was called in to investigate and prosecute the case to avoid any conflict of interest with the Bingham County Prosecutor's Office. A summons was issued for Rowland on Tuesday.
Rowland remains the elected sheriff of Bingham County, but agreed to take a leave of absence after the investigation started, according to East Idaho News.
Shoshone-Bannock tribe spokesman Devon Boyer called the sheriff's comments about Native Americans "extremely offensive." No tribal members were involved in the incident, the tribe said.
We ask Rowland to officially step down as Sheriff and offer a public apology to the Fort Hall community," Boyer said in a Thursday statement. We hope the woman and the children involved will be able to heal from this traumatic incident. This incident should not have occurred but proves racism still exists. We need major relationship building between our communities.
The sheriff previously generated controversy in 2016 when he said that a statewide bill to streamline the collection and tracking of rape kits was unnecessary because most reports of sexual assault are untrue.
Aggravated battery carries a possible 15-year prison sentence, while aggravated assault is punishable by up to five years.
Rowland is due to appear in court Dec. 22 for an initial appearance.

Think its time for homes to retire. For good. Away from the public. After a few years in prison.

If he was so blatantly willing to aim his weapon at a group of teen girls, how many other times did he inappropriately utilize his actual service weapon while on duty? You don't get that poor of gun habits by getting older. You get it by having no respect for the weapon and not being disciplined with it at all. It speaks volumes.

wackyteen posted...

"I have been doing this job for 36 years. I've had drunk Indians drive down my cul-de-sac. I've had drunk Indians come to my door," he said. "I live just off the reservation, we have a lot of reservation people around us who are not good people."

Only a cop would think that this is a good excuse

greyfox747 posted...

Only a cop would think that this is a good excuse

"I fucked up but I only fucked up because my racist tendencies got the better of me" briefs very well /s

ModLogic posted...

dont ding dong ditch maybe

Read the highlighted parts of the article maybe

@darkprince45

Good news for the prosecution, he admitted he had full use of his facilities meaning this was a cold and calculated attempt on the woman's life. But he's a cop so of course no attempted murder charge.

ModLogic posted...

dont ding dong ditch maybe

Please don't victim blame.

Fire him. Right now.

wackyteen posted...

The sheriff previously generated controversy in 2016 when he said that a statewide bill to streamline the collection and tracking of rape kits was unnecessary because most reports of sexual assault are untrue.
Aggravated battery carries a possible 15-year prison sentence, while aggravated assault is punishable by up to five years.

I missed this paragraph last night.

What the actual fuck.

talk about a glaring omission, jesus. meant this in a more jokey way, I get that you missed it - but yeah it really adds to the story.

I mean if dragging a woman out of a car and pointing a gun at her head to blow her fucking brains out wasn't bad enough, doubting the majority of reported crime for a subject that's already criminally under-reported due to shame and lack of results should tip people off that this guy is a pretty bad dude

Sounds almost like the start of Altzheimers and the shitty person that was always barely below the surface is coming all the way out with him losing his ability to pretend to be a good person.

Because if he really wasn't on anything not recognizing a neighbor he was fairly close with is kinda a red flag.

Lock him up. Fucking trash.

MrMallard posted...

talk about a glaring omission, jesus.

Its in the first post, I just overlooked it when posting the article

wackyteen posted...

Its in the first post, I just overlooked it when posting the article

sorry, I clarified what I meant in an edit. but yeah I missed the first time around too. Wasn't trying to insult you, it was moreso shock at the new information making this shit sound even worse. mb dude

gunplagirl posted...

Good news for the prosecution, he admitted he had full use of his facilities meaning this was a cold and calculated attempt on the woman's life. But he's a cop so of course no attempted murder charge.

You'd be hard-pressed to demonstrate attempted murder in this case, cop or not. He was neither stopped from his attempt by another party nor did he make an actual attempt that failed.

This is a completely disturbed person

holy shit he just sounds like a worse and worse person as that article goes on

I hope his paid vacation punishment is awful

Shame she wasn't armed.

Throw the book at him

Blackfoot Idaho is 70% Mormon, and though it sounds like he's not Mormon, those views on women are very common

It's like white people Saudi Arabia

Cool, so he's a racist on top of being a violent psycho.

How tiny must one's penis be to pull a gun on a van full of teenage girls?

AldousIsDead posted...

How tiny must one's penis be to pull a gun on a van full of teenage girls?

it is not the size of the penis that matters, but how small one believes it is.

Alucard188 posted...

Cool, so he's a racist on top of being a violent psycho.

Yeah it already said that hes a cop

Of course that fucker has a Yorkie. What a pos.

"I have been doing this job for 36 years. I've had drunk Indians drive down my cul-de-sac. I've had drunk Indians come to my door," he said. "I live just off the reservation, we have a lot of reservation people around us who are not good people."

You're not "good people" Craig.

Is it still an isolated incident? That's what I wonder.

Simon_Gruber posted...

"I have been doing this job for 36 years. I've had drunk Indians drive down my cul-de-sac. I've had drunk Indians come to my door," he said. "I live just off the reservation, we have a lot of reservation people around us who are not good people."

You're not "good people" Craig.

But if he's not good people then there are no good people in the world

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]

In his own words "That's frickin bullshit"