BOISE, Idaho — Federal court filings submitted this year allege that Boise Police officers encountered interference while investigating sex-abuse allegations within the Boise School District, including a case involving Fairmont Junior High.
The allegations are outlined in a federal lawsuit first filed in 2023, which remains active despite several other high-profile Boise School District sex-abuse cases ending in multimillion-dollar settlements. Plaintiffs in the case argue that newly uncovered police testimony points to a broader pattern of how the district handled sexual-abuse reports over a period of years.
WATCH | Inside the court filings raising questions for BSD—
In filings submitted this fall, plaintiffs cite depositions taken in August from three Boise Police lieutenants who testified that they faced obstacles while investigating sex-abuse allegations involving district employees.
According to a sworn deposition, Lt. Tim Brady testified that the district’s former general counsel, Daniel Skinner, sometimes refused to provide key information to investigators.
“Mr. Skinner has flat out refused to tell me names of victims before when we have had an alleged offender,” Brady testified, according to court documents.
Documents also show that another detective, Lt. Terry Weir, testified that he identified what he described as a “pretty disturbing pattern” of the district conducting internal investigations that he said interfered with police work. That testimony is summarized in the plaintiffs’ motion filed with the court.
Based on that testimony, plaintiffs are asking a federal judge to allow Skinner to be added as a defendant in the lawsuit, arguing the depositions constitute newly discovered evidence that was not available earlier in the case. The court has not yet ruled on that request.
The Boise School District has been asked for comment on the allegations. As of publication, the district had not responded.
The federal lawsuit centers on the police investigation into former Fairmont Junior High counselor Scott Crandell.
According to police reports attached to the court filings, Crandell was alleged to have spent time alone with a student, including driving her to and from school.
After detectives served a search warrant on Crandell’s phone in December 2022, Crandell died by suicide the following day. Police later conducted a forensic interview with the student, which disclosed multiple incidents of sexual contact and suggested there may have been other victims, according to the investigative report.
The investigation also examined the actions of then-Fairmont Principal Chris Ryan. Police records state Ryan was aware of Crandell’s contact with the student but did not immediately report it to law enforcement.
Ryan was later charged with failure to report suspected abuse. As previously reported by Idaho News 6, those charges were ultimately dismissed.
The police investigative report attached to the federal filings identifies additional cases across the Boise School District, including at Borah High School, Capital High School, Boise High School and Cynthia Mann Elementary School, where employees faced misconduct allegations.
In some instances, detectives noted employees resigned or changed positions before investigations could be completed.
Investigators wrote that their review of the Fairmont case prompted a broader examination of how the district handled sex-abuse reports over several years.
The federal case remains pending.
