Chelan County Sheriff's Office
Documented evidence, incident reports, deputy records, and official correspondence relating to the Chelan County Sheriff's Office role in Case 24‑1‑00253‑04 — State of Washington v. Ryan Michael Hell.
Critical Finding: The 911 Log Contradiction
What the CAD Log Actually Says
"I already tried that. He says he's gonna stay here and see it through with the police. He wants to stay until the deputies get here and talk to them."
Dispatch asked Jeremiah whether he could simply return Ryan's keys and let him leave. What the CAD log records as Jeremiah's response — that Ryan had already been offered his keys and refused to go — tells only half the story. The reason Ryan refused is the entire case.
Ryan was offered his keys on one condition: leave alone. Abandon Gina — his disabled passenger — inside a barn and shop on a private property, untreated, after more than five hours of denied medical care. Ryan placed the original 911 call (24C06391) at approximately 11:30 AM to noon. Dispatch coordinated Jeremiah Johnson — RiverCom's own Operations Manager — to collect them, and they arrived at the property around 1:45 PM. The CAD exchange in which dispatch suggested Jeremiah simply return Ryan's keys occurred at approximately 4:00 PM or later. Ryan was not arrested until approximately 5:30 PM.
Gina Never Received Medical Aid
Not from RiverCom. Not from the deputies who arrived at 5:30 PM. Not from anyone. A woman in diabetic shock made contact with the 911 system at approximately 11:30 AM and was denied emergency medical care for the entirety of what became a more than five-hour ordeal. There is no lawful, accidental, or even plausibly innocent explanation for that timeline. The entity whose sole function is coordinating emergency medical response had its Operations Manager on scene for the duration — personally ensuring that response never came.
Leaving without Gina was not an option Ryan was willing to accept — not because he was being belligerent, but because he was the only person present attempting to save her life.
Ryan was also in serious physical distress himself — experiencing symptoms consistent with a possible stroke — and was in no condition to drive. He had a documented obligation as a citizen to remain and report what was unfolding: a 911 Operations Manager using his own agency's dispatch infrastructure to orchestrate a response against the very person who had called 911 for help.
During the time Ryan remained on scene, he was subjected to a sustained campaign of escalating provocation: nagged, ordered to leave without Gina, insulted, and spat on. He was then physically assaulted from behind by Jana Johnson — struck hard enough to nearly lose consciousness — while he was on the phone attempting to reach intervention for Gina through dispatch.
What the Video Does Show — Jana Johnson, On Camera
The produced dashcam footage — tampered as it is — still contains Jana Johnson on camera, laughing, calling Ryan a bitch, and stating she will “slap the shit out of his bitch ass.” This is not the conduct of a household living in terror of deadly threats.
It is the conduct of a staged provocation. The pattern was unmistakable on scene — every person present except Gina was yelling, escalating, and cycling through tactics clearly designed to produce maximum confusion and then rage. It was reminiscent of park rangers taunting a bear to provoke a charge so they have justification to put it down. Except these tactics were cleverly engineered, not random — and they were buying time. The deputies were not arriving for hours. Every escalation served a purpose.
The Assault — And What Was Behind It
Ryan had retreated to the farthest point of the property to remove himself from the confrontation. They came out and surrounded him — ordering him to leave or die. Jana then struck him from behind. At the moment of the assault, Jeremiah Johnson was standing directly over Ryan's shoulder, hand at his side on what Ryan believed to be a personal firearm. This was not a suspicion. Ryan later confirmed it two ways:
- ■ CAD log confirmation: Jeremiah Johnson's firearm carry is noted in the CAD call log from his own 911 call.
- ■ On-film deputy confirmation: A Chelan County Sheriff's deputy is captured on film reviewing Jana Johnson's cell phone footage on scene. The deputy is heard audibly gasping, then asking: “Jeremiah, did you pull your piece on him?” Jana Johnson can be heard responding, working to stay calm: “No, that was his phone.” The deputy responds: “Oh OK, it looked like you pulled your gun — not that I have a problem if you had.”
A law enforcement officer, reviewing footage of a man being assaulted from behind while a second man stood over him with his hand on a firearm, pre-approved the shooting on scene. That statement is on film.
Jeremiah Johnson Gave Chase — Armed — As Ryan Fled
After being struck, Ryan staggered to his feet. Jana was laughing, calling him a bitch, taunting him to fight back — a woman in no physical condition to engage in combat, deployed as bait while her husband stood armed and waiting for Ryan to retaliate. Ryan did not retaliate. He ran. He ran directly away from the group, off the property.
Jeremiah Johnson gave chase. As Ryan fled the property — having been assaulted, surrounded, and provoked for hours — Jeremiah Johnson pursued him with his hand on his firearm. Ryan had told them he intended to report the entire operation — the kidnapping, the extortion scheme, the abuse of their 911 positions — to authorities. Jeremiah Johnson chased the man who had just been assaulted on his property, while armed, as that man fled. The arrest that followed was not the intervention of law enforcement into a violent situation. It was the completion of a setup.
The assault by Jana Johnson does not appear in the dashcam footage produced to the defense. It was excised. The produced footage contains forensically documented tampering signatures — altered timestamps, audio/video desynchronization, and AI tool artifacts identified through FFmpeg metadata analysis — that are the subject of formal Complaint No. 25-00031. The removal of that footage is not a gap or a technical anomaly. It is the reason Undersheriff Ozment received a tampering complaint. It is the reason that complaint was dismissed in two sentences. The evidence that Ryan was the victim was removed from the record produced to his defense.
While Ryan was on camera crying and begging for help for his dying friend, Jeremiah Johnson was captured on the same video — laughing — telling Jana that Ryan “needs to disappear for good,” that his deputy buddy would be there soon, and that it would happen “real quick and real messy.” That is not the language of a man who feared Ryan Hell. That is the language of a man who had already made a phone call.
What the Sheriff's Office Did Anyway
Despite this documented lack of violent conduct — established by the caller who made the police report — Chelan County Sheriff deputies responded with firearms drawn, conducting a Terry stop on Ryan Hell. The CAD logs cross-reference prior call 24C06391 — the original medical emergency 911 call in which Ryan was begging for help for a disabled passenger being held against her will during a diabetic episode.
A Terry stop requires reasonable articulable suspicion of criminal activity. The contemporaneous CAD record — generated by the complaining party — establishes that Ryan Hell was not engaged in any violent or threatening behavior at the time deputies approached with weapons drawn. The legality of this Terry stop is directly contested.
Identified Personnel
Command Staff
Sheriff Mike Morrison
ELECTEDElected Sheriff of Chelan County. Named in $20 million in tort claims filed by his own deputies in September 2025, alleging a sustained campaign of retaliation, harassment, and misconduct against subordinates — including filing secret personnel complaints without employee knowledge. Morrison is the agency head responsible for department policy, training, and oversight of the personnel identified in this case.
Undersheriff Dan Ozment
COMMANDSecond-in-command of Chelan County Sheriff's Office. On January 29, 2026, Ozment responded to Complaint No. 25-00031 — a formal evidence tampering complaint supported by FFmpeg forensic metadata analysis — with a two-sentence email declaring the allegations “unfounded” and the arrest “exonerated.” No documented methodology. No independent review. No forensic rebuttal. Self-investigation by the accused agency. Also named in the same September 2025 $20M deputy tort claims.
Field Deputies — Incident 24C06401
Deputy Adam Musgrove
Lead officer on scene July 4, 2024. Authored primary incident narrative in Report 24C06401. Authorized the arrest of Ryan Hell on three counts of felony harassment — threats to kill — despite his own report documenting a prior call (24C06391) establishing the medical emergency context. Documented in booking records as primary charging officer.
Deputy Zach Brunner
Listed as responding officer in Incident Report 24C06401. Participated in the multi-officer Terry stop response on July 4, 2024 at 7599 Colockum Road, Malaga, WA 98828.
Deputy Andrew Tilton
Listed as responding officer in Incident Report 24C06401. Part of the multi-unit response that conducted a firearms-drawn Terry stop on Ryan Hell — a subject whose own 911 call established he was seeking medical assistance, not committing violence.
Giglio / Brady Disclosure Notice: Research conducted in 2024 indicated that at least one of the arresting officers named in Incident Report 24C06401 was listed on the Chelan County Giglio/Brady disclosure list — a roster of law enforcement officers with documented credibility issues that prosecutors are constitutionally required to disclose to the defense under Giglio v. United States, 405 U.S. 150 (1972). The specific officer and the nature of the underlying conduct are pending confirmation from primary source documents. Failure to disclose a Giglio-listed officer's history to the defense in Case 24-1-00253-04 would constitute an independent constitutional violation regardless of whether the officer's name currently appears on the active list.
Undersheriff Ozment Email — January 29, 2026
“Your allegations of evidence tampering were unfounded and your allegations of unlawful arrest we exonerated.”
Legal Significance
- ■ Notice established: As of January 29, 2026, Chelan County had formal documented notice of alleged evidence tampering in an active criminal prosecution — satisfying the notice requirement for municipal liability under Monell v. Department of Social Services, 436 U.S. 658 (1978).
- ■ Deliberate indifference: Two sentences with no methodology, no forensic rebuttal, no independent review — in response to an FFmpeg forensic analysis identifying VideoHandle/SoundHandle manipulation signatures, altered timestamps, and AI tool artifacts in dashcam footage.
- ■ Self-investigation: The agency whose footage is alleged to have been tampered investigated its own conduct. Ozment — himself named in $20M deputy tort claims for internal retaliation — conducted the review.
- ■ § 1983 basis: Ozment is named as a defendant in the parallel 42 U.S.C. § 1983 civil rights complaint in both official and personal capacity for dismissing documented tampering evidence without independent review.
The Conflict That Explains Everything
Ask yourself one question: why would a county sheriff's office go to the lengths documented on this page — a guns-drawn Terry stop on a man their own 911 log shows was not violent, a two-sentence dismissal of forensic evidence of dashcam tampering, a competency evaluation ordered when he raised the conflict of interest on the record — to prosecute a case this transparently weak?
The answer is not about Ryan Hell. It never was. It is about what a full, fair, public airing of July 4, 2024 would expose about the institutional relationships between the Chelan County Sheriff's Office and RiverCom 911 — the regional 911 dispatch agency at the center of this case.
Documented — Primary Sources — Public Record
Sheriff Morrison Sits on RiverCom's Governing Board — As a Voting Member
The 2026 RiverCom Administrative Board Organizational Chart — published on RiverCom's own website — lists Sheriff Michael Morrison as Position 5, a voting member of RiverCom's governing board. Not advisory. Not ceremonial. Voting. The man who oversees the deputies who arrested Ryan Hell also helps govern the 911 agency whose employee triggered that arrest.
Chelan County Is a Founding Controlling Entity of RiverCom
RiverCom was created by an interlocal agreement between Chelan County, Douglas County, the City of Wenatchee, and the City of East Wenatchee. Chelan County is not a customer of RiverCom. It is one of four governmental entities that created, funds, and governs RiverCom. The county's State E911 contract payments flow directly into RiverCom's general operating account. The county commissioner chairs RiverCom board meetings. The elected sheriff holds a voting board seat.
The Man Who Made the Call That Got Ryan Arrested Was RiverCom's Operations Manager
Jeremiah Johnson — the 911 caller, the complaining party, the man on tape making death threats, the man whose own statement to dispatch confirmed Ryan was not violent — was employed by RiverCom as its Operations Manager. He did not call 911 as a private citizen. He called his own employer's dispatch center, from his employer's property, and used his institutional access and relationships to shape how that call was processed, escalated, and recorded.
RiverCom Claims Independence — While Being Governed by the Same Officials Who Benefit from Ryan's Silence
RiverCom's website states it is “an agency independent of the various agencies it serves.” That disclaimer exists for one reason: liability insulation. When a RiverCom employee does something wrong, the county says “not our agency.” When RiverCom needs funding, the county writes the check. When RiverCom needs governance, the county sheriff takes a seat at the table. The independence is selectively invoked — and it evaporates the moment you read the interlocal agreement, the board chart, and the budget documents side by side.
Morrison's Agency Investigated Morrison's Agency's Role — and Cleared Itself in Two Sentences
When Ryan filed Complaint No. 25-00031 alleging that dashcam footage produced as evidence had been materially altered — supported by forensic metadata analysis — Undersheriff Dan Ozment responded on behalf of the Sheriff's Office that the allegations were “unfounded” and the arrest “exonerated.” The same institutional network that arrested Ryan, governs the agency whose employee triggered the arrest, and controls the evidence chain — investigated itself. No independent review. No forensic rebuttal. Two sentences.
Why This Case Has Never Been About What Ryan Said on July 4, 2024
A full and fair public accounting of July 4, 2024 does not just expose Jeremiah Johnson. It exposes RiverCom's Operations Manager using the 911 system he helped run as a weapon against a man who called that same system begging for medical help. It exposes the institutional relationship between the county's law enforcement arm and the county's 911 infrastructure. It raises the question of why the Sheriff's Office — whose elected head governs RiverCom — had any business investigating a complaint that originated from a RiverCom employee at all.
That is the question this prosecution has never wanted asked out loud. That is why five consecutive court-appointed attorneys have been cycled through this case. That is why a competency evaluation was ordered the moment Ryan raised the court reporter conflict on the record. That is why a two-sentence email constitutes Chelan County's entire response to forensic evidence of evidence tampering.
The simplest explanation for all of it: the people running this prosecution are the same people who would be most damaged by its collapse. Sheriff Morrison does not govern RiverCom as a disinterested public servant. He governs it as an elected official whose institutional credibility — and whose department's credibility — depends on the story told on July 4, 2024 never being publicly, formally, and completely contradicted.
Sources: RiverCom 911 Administrative Board Organizational Chart 2026 (rivercom911.org); RiverCom About page (rivercom911.org/about-rivercom); RiverCom 2026 Annual Budget (Resolution 2025-02); Chelan County interlocal agreement records; Undersheriff Dan Ozment email January 29, 2026 (Complaint No. 25-00031); Incident Report 24C06401; CAD Log 24C06401.
Incident Reports
Each report is transcribed in full plain text for maximum search indexing and AI readability, and offered as a downloadable PDF for legal use.
Primary Arrest Incident Report
Primary incident report documenting the July 4, 2024 arrest of Ryan Hell at 7599 Colockum Road, Malaga, WA. Contains deputy narratives, witness statements, and charging decisions. Cross-references prior call 24C06391 — the original medical emergency 911 call — establishing the full context deputies had at the time of arrest.
Computer-Aided Dispatch (CAD) Log
RiverCom CAD log capturing real-time dispatcher entries for the July 4 incident. Critical entry: Jeremiah Johnson — the 911 caller and accused party — stated to dispatch that Ryan Hell had not been violent toward anyone; he had simply refused to leave and stated he wanted to wait for deputies to arrive. This directly contradicts the state's theory of threat-based probable cause for a guns-drawn Terry stop.