A deputy with the Island County Sheriff’s Office with a history of sexual harassment was arrested Oct. 13 for allegedly raping two people while he was off duty.

Sgt. John H. Nieder, a 21-year veteran working on Camano Island, has a checkered history with the department. He was fired in 2014 for sexually harassing a colleague, but an arbitrator forced the former sheriff to rehire him. More recently, a deputy filed a federal lawsuit claiming that Nieder had sexually harassed him; the county settled for $105,000.

With the election so close, the arrest almost instantly became a campaign issue in the race for Island County sheriff. Deputy Lane Campbell, who’s running against Sheriff Rick Felici, had already been criticizing Felici for his handling of allegations against Nieder and the arrest has raised the temperature of online discussions.

The Skagit County Sheriff’s Office reported that 50-year-old Nieder was arrested on suspicion of two counts of rape in the second degree. Deputies and detectives responded to a location on Oleary Road in Conway to execute a search warrant and arrest Nieder. He was taken into custody without incident.

Both victims were known to Nieder, according to the Skagit County Sheriff’s Office. No other details were released.

The Island County Sheriff’s Office immediately placed Nieder on administrative leave. The office will conduct an internal investigation and cooperate with the criminal investigation in order to “address this as expeditiously as possible while complying with the rights of all involved,” according to a statement from the sheriff’s office.

Nieder’s trouble in the department started in 2014, when he was a detective in the sheriff’s office and a fellow detective, who was training him to investigate sex crimes, accused him of sexual harassment. He touched her inappropriately, made sexual comments and belittled her, all after being warned to stop the behavior, according to arbitration findings. The undersheriff at the time called it a “textbook case of sexual harassment.”

The county human resources director investigated, sustained the allegations and recommended termination. Mark Brown, the sheriff at the time, agreed and fired Nieder.

But then the deputy’s guild appealed the firing on Nieder’s behalf, and the issue was sent to binding arbitration.

Campbell said he was the guild president at the time. He explained that the guild’s attorney advised him that the investigation wasn’t done well and that Nieder would probably get his job back if he appealed. If the guild didn’t support him, Nieder could sue if he prevailed with his own representation, Campbell said. As a result, the executive board members reluctantly agreed to back the appeal, although they “absolutely did not support” Nieder, Campbell said.

In addition, Campbell said the guild hadn’t been told all of the details of Nieder’s behavior prior to arbitration. He said he sat through all the hearings and was shocked by the allegations.

“I shook my head and thought, ‘There is no way he is getting his job back,’” Campbell said, adding that other deputies were also convinced that the termination would be sustained.

But arbitrator Gary Axon surprised them, concluding that while Nieder was guilty of sexual harassment and that his testimony was not credible, the termination was too harsh a punishment. He ordered Nieder’s reinstatement.

Nieder was demoted to a patrol deputy and sent to training about sexual harassment policies.

About two years later, Brown promoted Nieder to sergeant, a supervisory position in the sheriff’s office. In an interview this week, Brown explained that Nieder was passed over the first time he applied for an open position, even though he scored the highest among the applicants. The second time, Brown and his senior staff felt that Nieder was reformed and deserved the promotion.

Brown said the only person in his senior staff to disagree — and he was quite outspoken — was Felici.

Trouble started brewing on Camano Island after Felici was elected four years ago. Deputy Mike Adrian accused Nieder of inappropriately touching him, along with a slew of other complaints. In his lawsuit, Adrian claimed Nieder “approached him from behind and grabbed his chest underneath his protective equipment in an aggressive and sexual manner.”

The sheriff’s office investigated the sexual harassment allegations and found that they were unsubstantiated.

Campbell said he spoke to Adrian and has no reason to doubt him. He said the investigation should have been done by an outside entity, like the state patrol, given Nieder’s history.

“It’s leadership trying to keep dirt in-house,” Campbell said.

Felici has said there was no evidence to sustain any of Adrian’s allegations. Nonetheless, the county settled with Adrian in September on the condition that he leave the department. Felici denied any wrongdoing and said it was cheaper to settle than go to trial.

“I stand by all my decisions,” Felici said.