Court Filings Allege Boise School District Hindered Police Probes of Sex-Abuse Reports

Federal court filings submitted this year allege that Boise Police officers ran into interference from the Boise School District while investigating sexual-abuse allegations involving district employees, including a case tied to Fairmont Junior High.

The claims appear in a federal lawsuit first filed in 2023. The case is still active, even though several other prominent sex-abuse cases involving the district have ended in multimillion-dollar settlements. Plaintiffs say newly uncovered police testimony points to a broader pattern in how the district handled abuse reports over a period of years.

In filings made this fall, the plaintiffs cite depositions taken in August from three Boise Police lieutenants. According to the court documents, Lt. Tim Brady testified under oath that the district's former general counsel, Daniel Skinner, at times declined to give investigators key information. "Mr. Skinner has flat out refused to tell me names of victims before when we have had an alleged offender," Brady testified.

Another officer, Lt. Terry Weir, testified that he identified what he called a "pretty disturbing pattern" of the district carrying out internal investigations that he said interfered with police work, according to a summary in the plaintiffs' motion.

On the strength of that testimony, the plaintiffs have asked a federal judge to let them add Skinner as a defendant. They argue the depositions amount to newly discovered evidence that was unavailable earlier in the case. The court has not ruled on the request.

The district said Skinner is no longer employed there and that his last day was Oct. 2, 2025. In a statement to Idaho News 6, it said it is aware of Weir's testimony and has given its attorneys what it described as "the correct information on what actually occurred." It added that the case remains active and that it cannot comment further on pending litigation.

The lawsuit centers on the police investigation into Scott Crandell, a former Fairmont Junior High counselor. Police reports attached to the filings state that Crandell was alleged to have spent time alone with a student, including driving her to and from school. Detectives served a search warrant on his phone in December 2022, and he died by suicide the next day. A later forensic interview with the student disclosed multiple incidents of sexual contact and suggested there could be other victims, according to the investigative report.

Investigators also examined the conduct of then-Fairmont Principal Chris Ryan. Police records state that Ryan knew 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, but those charges were ultimately dismissed.

The police report attached to the federal filings identifies additional cases across the district, involving employees at Borah High School, Capital High School, Boise High School and Cynthia Mann Elementary School who faced misconduct allegations. In some instances, detectives noted, employees resigned or changed positions before investigations could be finished. Investigators wrote that their review of the Fairmont case led them to look more broadly at how the district handled such reports over several years.

After the story was first published, several viewers told Idaho News 6 they had experienced similar incidents in the district. The district asked the outlet to encourage those individuals to contact the Boise Police Department at (208) 377-6790. The federal case remains pending.