SOUTH BEND — The Pacific County Sheriff’s Office has completed a criminal investigation into Pacific County Prosecutor Michael Rothman following allegations of “disorderly behavior.” Detectives Kevin Acdal and Cory Nacnac conducted the investigation between Dec. 2, 2024, and March 9, 2025.

The allegations involved two incidents: the first on June 7, 2024, inside the rotunda of the Pacific County Courthouse, and the second on Oct. 31, 2024, inside the prosecutor’s office. The sheriff’s office learned about the incidents after Jonathan Feste, an outgoing deputy prosecutor, blew the whistle on what he witnessed.

Feste sat down with investigators and described the two incidents that rattled him. He also outlined the issues in a letter dated Nov. 30, 2024, which he sent to Rothman and copied to county officials, including Sheriff Daniel Garcia.

“Let me be clear: I do not want you to ever face a criminal charge or be subject to a civil lawsuit but there is an act that you resort to and it seems focused on women: you use loud language and your body size to project a sense of authority and fear and then get a reaction,” Feste stated in the four-page letter.

“The video of the courthouse incident is a public record. I cannot be silent and indifferent. Indeed, the social climate in your office has darkened in recent months…. I would rather risk wrath from you for my words here than to simply walk away, keeping silence as might a coward who is afraid to stand for a new possibility because he instead stands with fear and seeks self-preservation rather than takes a risk,” Feste added.

Feste departed the prosecutor’s office last fall after a brief stint as the chief criminal deputy prosecutor and took a job in Grays Harbor County.

Huber Incident – Oct. 31, 2024

Silence about Rothman’s alleged repetitive theatrical behavior ceased following an incident on Oct. 30, 2024, after a workshop with the Pacific County Commission in which he floated the idea that all prosecutor’s positions be based on his hefty salary.

According to public records, Brandi Huber, a clerical staff member at the prosecutor’s office at the time, noted a verbal objection to Rothman’s proposal. The situation took a fiery turn the following morning when Rothman reportedly confronted Huber about her opinion.

“The next morning, October 31, 2024, Rothman went to Brandi’s office and stood in the doorway,” Acdal stated in public records. “Brandi said Rothman began yelling at her. Rothman called her selfish, stated she didn’t know what she was doing, and said she was self-centered.”

“Brandi reported that at the end of Rothman’s rant, he said, ‘Have fun in the Coroner’s Office. I’m going to sabotage your budget like you did mine.’ Brandi wanted to leave, but Rothman stood in the doorway.”

“Brandi later explained she didn’t leave because she was afraid. Brandi stated she felt safe as long as Rothman remained by the door, but didn’t know what he would do if she tried to leave because he was so angry,” Acdal added.

Huber reportedly called Pacific County General Administration Human Resources and Risk Manager Marie Guernsey and notified her of the incident verbally and did not request any action be taken at the time. A week later, she submitted a formal workplace harassment claim.

During her interview, Huber also shed light on previous incidents involving Rothman dating back over a decade to when he was a deputy prosecutor in the office under David Burke. He and Burke were involved in a heated scuffle, which was reportedly supposed to result in a formal reprimand in Rothman’s file.

“Brandi detailed more recent incidents and described a situation when the newly elected Rothman was setting up his phone and became so angry that he slammed the phone until it broke,” Acdal stated. “Brandi stated that Rothman ‘gets really angry, really fast.'”

“She goes on to provide information about an incident in the prosecutor’s office where Rothman punched and kicked a filing cabinet. Brandi was not present, but noted there are dents on the filing cabinet. Brandi then goes on to reference an incident between Rikki [Thompson] and Rothman, which led to the filing cabinets being damaged,” Acdal added.

According to public records, Feste texted Guernsey photos of the damaged cabinet and stated that the cabinet was dented by an “angry” Rothman in June 2024 after “having a tantrum in front of team here about judge’s staffer.”

Huber now works in the Pacific County Coroner’s Office.

Thompson Incident – June 7, 2024

Rothman was involved in a more odd “tirade” six months earlier on June 7, 2024, under the rotunda at the courthouse after Pacific County Superior Court Administrator Rikki Thompson bumped into him and seized the opportunity to ask him a question.

According to public records, what transpired was partially captured on courthouse surveillance footage but did not collect any audio. It shows an incident between the two and him following her to her office.

“Rikki explained she needed to speak to one of the Pacific County [prosecutors] about a judgement and sentence document,” Acdal stated in public records. “After the docket concluded, she went to the Superior Courtroom to speak to whoever was available. As she was doing so, she encountered Rothman and Feste as they were exiting the courtroom.”

“While asking for assistance, Rikki explained, Rothman went into some kind of ‘tirade’ about Zoom. Rikki described Rothman as waving his hands around using profanity, which confused Rikki because she was unsure why Rothman was so upset. Rikki then stated at some point, Rothman dropped his ‘bucket,’ a container for court documents,” Acdal added.

Rothman reportedly got on his hands and knees picking up the documents and began “pleading” with Thompson, and asked something along the lines of “What do you need from me?” Instead of dealing with Rothman’s behavior, Thompson retreated back to her office and was followed by Rothman.

“Once in her office, Rikki described Rothman as being ‘really aggressive’ and asking her, ‘So what exactly is it you need?’”Acdal stated. “Rikki stated her heart was pounding, but she tried explaining to Rothman that she didn’t know what had just happened and told him he needed to leave her office.”

According to public records, Thompson had to tell Rothman to leave her office multiple times before he finally left. Rothman later sent Feste to Thompson’s office to apologize on his behalf for the incident — “to do some sort of damage control.”

Witnesses reported to Thompson and others that following the incident, Rothman called her a “crabs-infested c***.” It has also been reported that he has used the same phrase to refer to other women.

Rothman later also apologized for the incident and provided Thompson with “excuses for his behavior.” Due to his erratic behavior, Rothman is no longer allowed to be in the court administrator’s office but has reportedly violated the order multiple times.

The Observer spoke with Thompson on May 6, and she reiterated the entire incident, consistent with the report written by Acdal. She appeared concerned for her safety around Rothman following the incident.

According to public records, Thompson did not immediately submit a claim with Guernsey and instead requested a copy of the courthouse surveillance footage for the incident on June 10, 2024, which had to be approved by the General Administration.

Probing the county’s response

Risk management was reportedly formally informed of the Huber incident on Nov. 4, 2024, when she filed a Pacific County Bullying, Discrimination, and Harassment Complaint Form about what transpired on Oct. 31, 2024.

According to the complaint form, Huber provided nearly identical information that she later provided to Acdal and Nacnac in their investigation. She also noted that Rothman also reportedly mocked her and questioned her intelligence.

“I feel that Mike was trying to intimidate me and degrade me in front of our entire office,” Huber wrote in the complaint. “I wanted to walk out and leave, but I was unable to due to Mike blocking my office doorway, which was my only way out of my office.”

Huber and Thompson also met up about their incidents and requested a sit-down meeting with Guernsey. Huber also requested a meeting with the county commissioners but was denied. Guernsey agreed to a sit-down upon her return from vacation on Nov. 20, 2024.

According to public records, Guernsey met with the two women and collected basic information about what they experienced. Later, after probing from Acdal and Nacnac, it was discovered that she did not take any meaningful notes.

Thompson also stated that she handed Guernsey a letter dated Nov. 20, 2024, at the sitdown, outlining her formal complaint for the June 7, 2024, incident. Guernsey told Acdal and Nacnac she had no recollection of being provided the letter and has stood by her statement.

In a May 6 interview with the Observer, Thompson stated she handed a copy directly to Guernsey on Nov. 20, 2024.

Told to keep quiet

The two ladies were instructed not to discuss the situation with anyone, and that Rothman would ultimately find out about the complaints. In fact, Huber received a call the following day, Nov. 21, 2024, from another employee stating that Rothman was back from leave and was searching for who filed the complaints.

Ultimately, the only solution proposed for Huber and any other woman in the prosecutor’s office was for them to have a phone readily available to call 911 if he caused another incident and they felt unsafe. Acdal and Nacnac later questioned why only the women in the office were instructed to take the precaution, and Guernsey had no explanation.

Huber also requested to be removed from the prosecutor’s office and allowed to work externally, from home, or even at another office space in the county. Guernsey was reluctant to authorize that because Rothman is an “elected official,” and the county has no direct oversight of an elected official’s office, except monetarily.

If another incident occurred, Huber was advised that then she could unplug her laptop and move from the courthouse down to the General Administration building.

Criminal investigation launched

Acdal and Nacnac made a surprise visit to the General Administration building on Dec. 3, 2024, to interview Guernsey about what she found in the internal investigation.

They arrived at about 9:41 a.m. and were asked to come back, which they did an hour later at 10:43 a.m. The duo wanted to meet with Guernsey privately, but she declined, leading them to begin the interview out in public view in the offices.

Acdal foreshadowed what was forthcoming with the investigation, stating in the report, “Detective Nacnac and I attempted to collect materials from her investigations or evidence pertaining to the case but were met with what appeared to be reluctance to cooperate with law enforcement as well as deception from Guernsey.”

When asked about the reported incidents, Guernsey stated, “Currently, that is still under investigation, so at this time I am not comfortable sharing that with you until everything is complete. I am more than welcome to have a conversation when that is finished.”

“We can do an additional interview when it is complete, but for our investigation because it is a criminal matter at this point, we are investigating it as a criminal matter, for our investigation we need to be on top of the ball and whatever you have collected we need to have that as well,” Acdal stated in bodycam footage of the encounter.

Guernsey then agreed to meet with the duo with Pacific County Commissioner Jerry Doyle, who was standing behind them, present as a witness. The conversation was then taken to the office’s conference room, and did not elicit any pertinent information over the 50-minute interview.

She was reluctant to provide them with even so much as the complaints filed by Huber and Thompson, stating, “If they want to give them to you, then that’s fine.”

In fact, according to the investigation’s report, the duo had substantially more info about the matter at the time than Guernsey. The only information she provided was what Huber and Thompson iterated in their complaints/statements.

The notes Guernsey took from the meeting include the names of witnesses, dates of the two incidents, and that Huber and Thompson “fear retaliation” and a note about “angry outbursts.”
She did question whether or not anything Rothman had done met the standard of being “criminal.”

“If I believed what Rothman did was criminal, you would have been my first call,” Guernsey stated.

Nacnac did note that, at first, the severity of the incidents were not obvious, but as they dug further there were concerns it may reach the level of criminal charges — such as unlawful imprisonment for when Huber was stuck in her office.

Doyle interjected throughout the interview, primarily to question how the investigation went from an internal matter to a criminal one, how the sheriff’s office found out about the incidents, and that situations with elected officials needed to be handled “delicately.”

“This is a voluntary…,” Nacnac said about the interview when tensions escalated.
.
“It’s not coming across as voluntary…,” Guernsey interjected.

“Let’s take a big step back, OK?” Nacnac said a few moments later. “For some reason this is an adversarial meeting… normally when we discuss, when we have interviews with witnesses to crimes, which is what you would be considered — a witness — normally when we have discussions or interviews with witnesses, they are not like this, OK, and I don’t want it to be like this.”

“I would like for us to work together to help us either come to a probable cause or not… but the, like, ‘Well, I need to talk with my attorney before I can talk to you,’ like, that’s your right and that’s OK, but what I am getting at is I know — we know — that you are aware of information and we want to know that information.”

“We want to see what you have, and you may say that we already have those things, and that’s no different than any other criminal investigation that I do when I talked to a witness; I see ‘Well, you probably already have it’ and I say, ‘I wanna see it anyway, because you might have something, an extra piece, that’s important,’” Nacnac added.

Guernsey was adamant that all she had were the ‘complaints’ that Acdal and Nacnac had acquired from the victims.

She also asserted that she had little knowledge of Thompson’s incident, and that Thompson’s public records request for the surveillance footage did not provide details of what happened — which was contradictory to the actual public records, which did provide details of the incident.

Acdal also asked if complaints have to be documented by a complaint form, and Guernsey clarified that it was not required but “preferred.” Even though the County became aware of the Thompson incident in June 2024, it took no immediate action.

The Observer reviewed nearly two hours of bodycam footage of the interviews with Guernsey. Neither Acdal nor Nacnac appeared to raise their voices, were intimidating, or became “aggressive.”

Guernsey was observed to be chuckling and grinning throughout the footage.

How isn’t it a conflict?

One of the more significant questions raised by Acdal and Nacnac was how Guernsey can perform the human resources duties geared toward protecting personnel while also acting as the risk manager protecting the county, as she stated, “at all costs.”

Guernsey did not provide a substantial explanation and admitted that although it does seem complicated on the surface, she is fully capable of performing the duties of each responsibility, including protecting alleged victims and their identities.

That topic also became a heated discussion because Acdal and Nacnac wanted to understand how Rothman found out he was under criminal investigation on or around Dec. 2, 2024, when only three people were believed to know it was “criminal” — Acdal, Nacnac and Guernsey.

According to the report, Guernsey popped into the prosecutor’s office on Dec. 2, 2024, and not only spoke with Huber but also chatted with Rothman and “took a walk” with him. Huber recounted that Guernsey asked her, “How she was doing, and she said fine.”

“Can I ask you a question, and I need you to be completely honest?” Guernsey reportedly asked Huber.

“Sure,” replied Huber.

“How did the sheriff’s office find out what’s going on with Mike Rothman?” Guernsey asked Huber.

According to Huber, Feste tipped off the sheriff’s office before his departure, which the Observer confirmed.

“Based on Guernsey’s demeanor, Brandi felt she would have been in trouble if she had spoken to the sheriff’s office,” Acdal stated in public records.

When prodded about her role, Guernsey asserted that her responsibility in the situation was to protect an employee from a hostile workplace and an elected official from “defamation.”

According to her, considering the situation involved an “elected’s office,” there was little the county could do under the circumstances.

Guernsey was reportedly in direct contact with the Washington Counties Risk Pool for “pre-defense” purposes, and did not elaborate on exactly what that meant. She handled the internal investigation for approximately three weeks before the criminal investigation was launched and was unable to provide any progress that was made.

According to Guernsey, when the sheriff’s office began the criminal investigation, she stopped the internal investigation.

It was also noted by Guernsey that she had met with Feste on Nov. 26 for an exit interview and at that time he disclosed his experiences and concerns.

There is more

In the follow-up interview on Dec. 9 with Guernsey and Paul Plakinger, Chief Administrative Officer of Pacific County General Administration, Guernsey requested before Acdal and Nacnac had barely gotten a word out that they shut off their bodycams, which they denied, citing agency policy to keep them rolling.

Despite tensions, they handed the county a significant new development discovered in their investigation: more potential victims and witnesses.

The duo had spoken to all of the employees who had departed the prosecutor’s office since Rothman took it over in late 2021, and learned of an ongoing repetitive behavioral problem primarily directed at women, and recommended that the county follow up on the information.

However, despite the new information, Plakinger and Guernsey appeared to downplay the severity. Instead, they made excuses for Rothman, including the weight of major cases wearing on a person and turnover in his office.

“Just that amount of stress, it’s the type that can really affect a person,” Plakinger said.

Acdal did not take the comment lightly, and the meeting ended a short time later.

“I completely understand that we are all human, right, everyone has their limits,” Acdal stated in bodycam footage of the interview. “Unfortunately, with the positions we all hold, right? Me and [Nacnac], you guys…we all should be held to a higher standard regardless of what the stressors that we are experiencing within our personal lives or within our careers. We need to make sure we hold ourselves to that standard.”

Acdal and Nacnac also interviewed additional witnesses who observed or knew about the two incidents.

Rothman was not interviewed for the investigation due to the potential conflict of interest between the detectives and Rothman regarding criminal cases.

No charges have been filed.