Det. Naumann retires from sheriff's office

Boundary County Sheriff’s detective since 1999, Mike Naumann said farewell to duty and retired last week.

Sheriff deputy Dave “Mac” McClelland will replace the Naumann.

“I am looking forward to spending more time with my kids and grand-kids,” Naumann said.

Naumann and his wife, Laurie, who moved to Bonners Ferry in 1975 have two sons and a daughter and eight grandchildren.

 The couple came here from Trout Lake, Wash., to buy land and get away from the Portland area.

Naumann worked at the LP Mill for a while then became a reserve patrol officer for  Bonners Ferry City Police in 1983.  Naumann’s father was a reserve police officer in Arizona so he thought he would give it a try; he got hooked.

Some years later, in 1992 when the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program came to Boundary County School District, he was named the D.A.R.E. officer.

“I taught our current D.A.R.E. officer, Tiffany Murray, and deputy Jodi Hubbard D.A.R.E. when they where in school,” said Naumann.

After D.A.R.E. Naumann took about an 18-month year sabbatical and traveled to Africa for missionary work.

Upon his return in 1999 he accepted the position as the sheriff’s detective.

Naumann received the highest honor one can receive for a career in non-supervisory law-enforcement a Masters Certificate from Police Officer Standards Training in 2003.

Naumann loved the helping people aspect of his job.

“I like to help when people have problems or when other people have taken advantage of them,” he said.

The only regrets he has are the people that got away.  The people he knew were guilty and didn’t have enough evidence to get them at the time.

“We may not have gotten them that time, but we will get them another time,” he said.

One of Naumann’s most memorable cases happened in 2003.  An arson was staged as a hate crime in Naples.

An African American woman lived in the house that caught fire.  A night gown was posted on a cross and staked in the front yard and burned.  The house was burning, but not to the ground. 

“It was real bad because most people around here aren’t like that, but we have a reputation of white supremacy and this didn’t help,” said Naumann.

“We found a trail of paper and a heater that was set to go on with a timer,” he continued.  The paper trail burned, but went out, and it was obviously purposely set.”

It turned out that the woman and her partner  hired another party to help them with the arson.    According to Naumann, the arsonist had started other fires in the county.

Naumann worked close with the state fire marshall on the case and got the suspect to confess under an Alford plea.  He told Naumann that he was hired and the couple was going to pay him out of the insurance money and with property. All parties were eventually convicted.

“That was the most interesting case becasue we had a big trial,” said Naumann.

As for Naumann’s plans after retirement, he had one thing to say.

“I am researching a business opportunity,” he said.