BOISE, Idaho — An Ada County resident on Thursday filed a lawsuit against the city of Boise and Ada County, claiming a former Boise police officer — also named in the suit — in 2018 worked with an Ada County Sheriff’s deputy to have the resident arrested for a stalking charge, which was later dismissed.
The suit by Matthew Lee, initially reported by the Idaho Statesman, alleges the former officer, Kayse Stone, who left the department in June, also made false statements under oath in a 2018 civil court hearing — and the Boise City Prosecutor’s Office had to tell that to defendants in 47 cases in which Stone was a witness.
The suit claims “Ada County was entirely focused upon protecting and promoting the personal interests and objectives of a fellow law enforcement officer over the rights and protection of a common citizen.”
Karen Boe, a spokeswoman for the City of Boise, wrote in an email she was unable to comment on pending litigation or personnel matters. Elizabeth Duncan, spokeswoman for Ada County, did not return a call for comment Friday evening.
Lee’s lawsuit has its origin in April 2018. According to the federal court complaint, Stone filed a complaint against Lee with Terry Lakey, an Ada County Sheriff’s deputy, also named as a defendant in the case. In her complaint, Stone claimed Lee had parked in front of her house, then approached her home and tried to enter the garage door code. None of that was true, Lee's complaint argues.
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Stone’s husband, Zane Stone, another defendant, gave her Lee’s license plate number, and she ran the number while she was working on the clock as a Boise police officer, Lee's complaint alleges. She learned Lee owned the car, went to Lakey and made the complaint against Lee.
“Lee had never met or seen either Kayse or Zane before, and had no idea who they were,” according to the complaint.
Lakey then investigated Kayse Stone’s complaint against Lee.
“Lakey's investigation into the matter (lasting all of one day), which was assisted if not directed by Kayse in her role as an officer and employee of (the Boise Police Department) throughout, was completely one sided and cursory at best, ripe with total fabrications and clearly unsubstantiated facts,” according to the complaint. “Without any corroborating evidence, Lakey surmised that Lee, who was an employee at the Chevron station next to the airport, must have followed Kayse home one time after she had stopped at the gas station while on duty as a police officer at the airport. When Lakey interviewed Lee at Lee's friends place of work, Lakey misrepresented to Lee that Lakey had video confirmation and pictures of Lee stalking Kayse and trying to enter the house and garage. Lakey refused to follow up on any of Lee's alibis or other evidence provided by Lee showing that the allegations were completely false and unsupported. Rather, the charges against Lee were entirely contrived and baseless.”
On April 19, 2018, Lee was arrested on suspicion of second-degree stalking, and a no-contact order was issued in his case — meaning he couldn’t be within a quarter-mile of Kayse or Zane Stone.
“Shortly after his arrest and release, pursuant to a false report by Lakey that Lee was ‘following a school bus,’ the court ordered that Lee wear an ankle monitor (which Lee had to pay for) — which severely restricted Lee's freedom of movement,” according to the complaint. “Lee was also forced to undergo a psychological evaluation.”
The arrest occurred against the backdrop of Lee’s battle for the custody of his 6-year-old daughter. His ex-wife filed a motion in that legal matter as a result of the charge against him. In May 2018, at a hearing in that case, Kayse Stone testified under oath that she was not the person who ran Lee’s license plates; she said her husband had called the Eagle Police Department. It was this statement that led to the Boise city prosecutors sending out notices that Stone was accused of lying under oath.
The second half of 2018 was difficult for Lee, according to the complaint. He couldn’t, for example, visit his girlfriend at her home, because it was within a quarter-mile of the Stones’ house — he was actually traveling to see her on the day Kayse Stone alleged he stalked her, he said.
The charges against him were dismissed in October 2018, just days before the criminal trial, according to the complaint, not because of his attorney’s motion to dismiss them, but because “Kayse advised the prosecutor she (Kayse) and Zane ‘decided we didn't want to follow through’ with the trial because ‘the whole thing has been emotionally draining and we are tapped out.’”
In December 2018, Lee filed a complaint against Kayse Stone with the Boise Police Department; her employment there ceased about six months later.
“Lee has made numerous attempts with law enforcement to press charges against Kayse for perjury and other potential crimes,” according to the lawsuit. “Lee has been rebuffed and no charges have been filed. Again, the defendants' approach has been to protect a law enforcement officer over that of a common citizen.”
The civil complaint asks for at least $750,000 in compensation.
The case’s defendants have not yet filed a response to the complaint, according to online court records.
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