Sexual Assaults

Deputy Missoula County Attorney Jennifer Clark has released a letter from Missoula County Attorney Fred Van Valkenburg regarding the charges leveled against his office on February 14 by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Missoula County Attorney Fred Van Valkenburg responded to last Friday's Department of Justice news release, calling it a 'political hatchet-job, full of half-truths and lies'.

The Department of Justice released a scathing report late Friday, February 14, stating that it has found "substantial evidence" of gender bias in the Missoula County Attorney's Office.

On Tuesday, February 11, Missoula County Attorney Fred Van Valkenburg officially filed an action in U. S. District Court against the Department of Justice.

Missoula County Commissioners unanimously approved the release of $50,000 for the county attorney's office to pursue a declaratory judgment against the U..S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division.

Wearied over a continuing threat by the U.S. Department of Justice to take action against the Missoula County Attorney's office, Fred Van Valkenburg is proposing taking the U.S. government to court.

Deputy Missoula County Attorney Jason Marks announced this week that he will run for the county attorney's office position now held by incumbent Fred Van Valkenburg.

In May of 2012, the University of Montana and the City of Missoula entered into a three-year agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division over the issue of sexual assaults on campus and in the community.

It's a phenomenon Missoula Police Chief doesn't understand, that is why reports of sexual assaults have soared since the city signed an agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice, who took the city to task on the subject in an investigation that lasted nearly a year.

During Wednesday's news conference with the Department of Justice, the subject of the Missoula County Attorney's lack of cooperation with the various investigations came up yet again.

Today, May 15, representatives of the Department of Justice, the city of Missoula and the Missoula police department met to disclose a comprehensive agreement over the response to sexual assault in Missoula.

Thursday, May 9, the U. S. Department of Justice held a news conference to release findings of a year-long study into the response by The University of Montana, the City Police Department and the Missoula County Attorney to the issue of sexual assaults.