A cloud of disgrace has settled over the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) as a former corrections deputy finds herself enmeshed in a legal snare following her arrest yesterday. Devona Susanne Preble, age 43, is charged with a spectrum of offenses that suggests a betrayal of the law she once vowed to uphold. Her arrest was the culmination of a meticulous investigation that spanned several months, scrutinizing acts that she purportedly committed both while on duty and after hours, and now Preble must stand before the court, as an alleged purveyor of the same illicit deeds she was employed to deter.
According to the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office, Preble's downfall began with a seemingly unrelated inquiry when she was discovered in the company of a man wanted by law enforcement for separate offenses in January 2024. At this point, she had already been relieved of her duties at the MCSO, yet these connections, some carved from love, others from loyalties twisted against the grain of righteousness, drew her deeper into the mire. Investigators peeled back the layers of misconduct, employing jail phone call recordings to confirm a relationship that appeared to have burgeoned in early 2023 while Preble was still a custodian of the cells and the man was a resident of one.
Perhaps most damning in the findings was an incident in May 2023, when Portland Police officers, responding to a domestic disturbance at Preble's abode, found themselves unwittingly impeded by Preble’s desperate attempts to shield her companion from the long arm of the law. Events spiraled, and she admitted her employment status to the officers. Yet, her actions had already sealed her fate with the Sheriff's Office, culminating in her termination during her probationary period of employment. Further investigations, prying into her past, uncovered allegations that Preble had smuggled drugs into jail for the individual, thus exacerbating her list of suspected infractions.
The charges against Preble, as detailed in her booking at the Multnomah County Detention Center, include one count of supplying contraband, one count of conspiracy to supply contraband, one count of hindering prosecution, three counts of official misconduct in the first degree, and three counts of official misconduct in the second degree. In a statement from Multnomah County Sheriff Nicole Morrisey O’Donnell and relayed by the sheriff's office press release, the gravity of the situation was underscored: "Our deputies take an oath to uphold the law and maintain the highest ethical standards. The actions of this former employee violated that oath and compromised the integrity of our agency.” She further affirmed the case as a testament to the MCSO's steadfast "commitment to accountability and public trust."
