Bombshell lawsuit from former Shasta Assistant CEO Eric Magrini alleges retaliation, harassment over ideological issues
Eric Magrini worked for the county for more than 15 years, rising to the rank of sheriff and then assistant CEO before being terminated in 2024. Last week, he filed a lawsuit against the county, alleging retaliation by “certain” county board members, specifically Kevin Crye.
“[Mr. Magrini] believes that certain Board Members stalked his wife at her place of employment … and that certain supervisors stalked him and his granddaughter at her school.”
That’s an excerpt from a complaint filed by former Shasta County sheriff and assistant CEO Eric Magrini against Shasta County about a week ago. The lawsuit alleges multiple labor violations.
Magrini says his issues with the county began after he resigned from his role as Shasta County Sheriff and was appointed as Shasta County’s first Assistant CEO. In that role, Magrini alleges that “certain” county board members approached him saying they “intended to punish him for enforcing the COVID-19 orders and laws during the pandemic.”
“They accused him of being a traitor to the Republican Party,” the lawsuit reads, “and to those who objected to the imposition of COVID-19 health orders.”
Amid a litany of allegations that includes stalking and other forms of harassment, the only board member specifically named in the lawsuit is County Supervisor Kevin Crye. He is alleged to have been aware of where Magrinin’s wife worked, where his granddaughter went to school and where their family worshipped.
Crye did not respond to two requests for comment. He briefly discussed the lawsuit in broad terms during his radio show on Sunday, Oct. 5. Referring to Magrini as “the disgraced and failed ex-sheriff,” Crye focused most of his statements on broad claims of corruption in local government and what he referred to as the “crooked local media.”
“You know you’re succeeding when they call you a fascist,” Crye said, amid other wide-ranging remarks about his critics.
Magrini’s lawsuit claims he informed county officials — including the support services director, the acting CEO and county counsel — of the alleged harassment and retaliation against both him and some of those who worked for him. But according to the lawsuit, Magrini was told there was nothing county staff could do about the behavior of elected officials. Current Shasta County CEO David Rickert responded to a request for information by saying the county doesn’t comment on pending litigation.
Magrini says he also reported his complaints to various state and federal officials, including those at the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the Department of Fair Employment and Housing and the Department of Labor.
In March 2023, the lawsuit indicates, Magrini went on medical leave after his physicians informed him that his body could not tolerate his ongoing level of work-related stress. He says he asked the county to implement certain policies that would allow him to return to work without having contact with Crye, including a request to work in a remote office space. Instead, Magrini said, he was terminated in August 2024.
The lawsuit claims the county’s failure to act in response to his concerns resulted in the loss of his employment as well as his emotional distress, anxiety, stress and humiliation. He filed a claim with the county in February, according to the suit, and it was denied the next month.
Magrini is now asking the court to implement civil penalties against the county for multiple violations of California labor law and to award him damages of a currently unspecified amount to compensate for his losses.
An alleged hit list
The lawsuit references conflicts that allegedly occurred behind closed doors at the county, going back to 2021 and revolving around ideological issues, including COVID-19 and elections.
Several former employees at the county are named in the suit, including former county attorneys Rubin Cruse, Jim Ross and Matt McOmber, who retired or resigned between 2023 and 2024, and former public health director Karen Ramstrom, who was fired in 2022. Magrini claims they, like himself, were on a “hit list” of individuals who either enforced COVID-19 mandates or defended those who did.
His support for those individuals, Magrini’s lawsuit claims, only increased the hostile work environment he faced.
Divide over elections
The lawsuit claims Magrini was also retaliated against for supporting former Registrar of Voters Cathy Darling Allen amid “alleged conspiracy theories about the unfounded elections fraud during the 2020 presidential election.”
Magrini was targeted in part, the suit states, because he did not support the board’s effort to make “so-called” election reforms. The suit also describes how Magrini allegedly denied a travel request submitted by Crye in an effort to ensure that his meeting with MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell for election advice could be expensed to taxpayers. The trip, the lawsuit says, related to Crye’s attempt to “thwart the County’s election procedures.”
Reporting by Shasta Scout indicates that the travel request was eventually signed off by former Acting CEO Mary Williams.
In August 2024, just a few days after Magrini was terminated by the county, Williams gave public comment during a board of supervisors agenda item on proposed changes to county policy. The policies, which are cited in Magrini’s lawsuit, address how employees can seek recourse if they experience harassment or retaliation in the workplace.
Williams told the public the anti-harassment policies were the result of “a year of pressing for changes in outcomes in a system that is intentionally designed to lead employees to a dead end.”
“They tell a story,” Williams continued, “of a work environment where such specific and detailed policies are now necessary to address harassing, abusive and retaliatory conduct that procedures must be outlined for handling of complaints against elected officials.”
Speaking to Shasta Scout by phone Monday, Williams, who worked for Magrini as deputy CEO before being appointed to Acting CEO, said her former superior’s difficulties with the county were “one of multiple” situations she was referencing when she spoke to the board last year.
Today, Oct. 7, the Shasta County board voted unanimously in closed session to hire outside counsel to represent the county against Magrini’s lawsuit. The former sheriff told Shasta Scout he’s unable to provide comment on his pending litigation.
Do you have information or a correction to share? Email us: editor@shastascout.org.
Author
Comments (29)
Comments are closed.
Related Articles
Sheriff hopes to “change culture” at Shasta jail with new medical service provider
A contract with medical services provider Mediko, Inc. was approved by supervisors yesterday. It will increase medical expenses at the jail by about $3 million annually. But county officials hope it will reduce county costs overall by lowering litigation expenses.
Judge postpones Tyler McCain trial to August
Court records show that defense attorney Michael Borges requested the trial be moved because of his involvement in other trials, adding that his independent experts also need more time to complete their work. The prosecution offered no argument against the delay.
Flight logs shed only minor light on CHP arrest of Shasta man alleged to have illegal weapons, bunker
No charges have been filed in court against a man arrested by the California Highway Patrol in January. Flight logs obtained by Shasta Scout reveal little more than what the California Highway Patrol has already said by press release, that the search of a private property as part of an “illicit cannabis cultivation operation” revealed weapons and an underground bunker — leading to an arrest.
In the Amazon when the torrential passes and the backwaters dry up slow the piranha devour each other if the sun doesn’t get them first, word.
Ray and Anita, please be specific when you say Crye has cost us money. Where and how much?
Happy, please enlighten unto how Lord Crye hath saved us money.
Please be specific.
This is just off the top of my head…..Dominion voting machines being ditched and replaced with a system that had some problems. Williamson Act vote cost the General Fund $144,000, the cost of the impact fees for public safety, libraries, animal control etc. usually totaling around $1m per year. Chriss Street’s waste of time and money on his “consulting job,” which amounted to $40,000 +/-. Tribal agreement cost the county approximately $200m over the next 30 years and the subsequent legal fight when the agreement ended up in court and the judge deemed the agreement illegal. The county currently is shouldering the costs of calls to the casino, and all the additional costs connected to the DA, Public Defender’s office, Probation, etc. The Elections Commission has cost over $80,000 with no concrete outcomes from their work. Lawsuits filed over election denying. Lawsuits by former employees, which will cost into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. A wasted investigation on me, saying I leaked, which was proven I did not leak any confidential information. That investigation cost $28,000. There have been numerous investigations of this board majority’s behavior and those investigations seemingly were not made public. I do not know the total cost for county costs and outside counsel costs on the Kropholler case. I know there is much, much more but this is a start.
Magrini personally called many militia leaders in the area when BLM was going to demonstrate and said they needed to show up to get BLM to leave our area alone, then later lied about the entire issue. Some Militia members still have the recordings of Magrini calling after the media picked up on it and asked them to say it never happened
3per: I was on the ground reporting when multiple militia members told me they’d been asked to show up by Mr. Magrini. That story has since been taken down by the original publisher. The Ellis report goes into some of this. https://shastascout.org/shasta-county-hopes-to-eliminate-assistant-county-ceo-position-formerly-held-by-eric-magrini/
Annelise,
Any chance of providing the name of the original publisher and the date it was published? I would like to read the original reporting and the wayback machine never forgets
The original piece was written by me and published by A News Cafe the day after the June courthouse protest in 2020.
Thank you,
Here is a link for anyone else who wants to read
https://web.archive.org/web/20200609193033/https://anewscafe.com/2020/06/03/redding/blm-protesters-local-militia-police-and-a-happy-ending-in-redding/
Mr. Magrini: Received a vote of no confidence from the sheriff deputy union twice while he was sheriff. Also, he was involved with unauthorized special service calls for former Supervisor Mary Rickert. This guy is a real bad actor.
Rex: He did receive votes of no confidence from his deputies. He resigned shortly after and a new position was created at the county which he was then hired into, Assistant CEO.
That is an absolute bold faced lie. Sheriff Magrini never, ever provided any favors or special service calls for me. That lie was perpetrated by Mr. Chriss Street. An apology and retraction is in order and I expect it immediately.
I even had substantiated death threats
and I never asked for any special treatment from Sheriff Magrini. I filed complaints against Kevin Crye for abusive behavior and it went no where because we were both elected officials. The truth will be revealed in this suit as to the torment and chaos so many county staff have had to endure. Why have almost 30 top tier county leadership left in the past three years? There’s a reason. And it will be exposed. And you sir, will be proven wrong.
You were never there for me Mary when working as a security guard for Securitas at the supervisors’ meetings you threw me under the Les Baugh bus. Welcome to my world…
I believe the Rex mistakenly said you instead of Leonard Moty and suspect you know it. I’ve noticed you never miss an opportunity to be insulted.
Thanks Mary. They will say anything they they can get away with. I wonder where they got the idea telling lies is in vogue?
“The truth will be revealed in this suit”
Mary, it sounds like you are working very closely with Mr. Magrini on this lawsuit. Were you also conspiring with him while you were an active Supervisor?
False. That has been completely disproven and I have personally contacted and am recommending that Mary Rickert start suing for defamation.
Thanks again Shasta Scout. Man, I’ve been around here a long time now and I’ve never seen such a dysfunctional Board of Supervisors and their harm inflicted on our Shasta County departments. It’s just nuts, basically in service to to a far-right ideology, Cult MAGA. What will they think of next, hiring, somebody who thinks George Soros is using mosquitoes to vaccinate against covid? Or how about a good hour and a half (that probably cost us taxpayers thousands of dollars to keep the lights on, and pay staff during a meeting talking about chemtrails and then immediately approving $100,000 an airline to fly into Redding from Reno, what, so they can spray us with more chemtrails? Just nuts.
Just one of many that were persecuted and abused for attempting to follow the law. Shasta County BOS has a history of this type of behavior. Patrick Jones was in Trinity County today continuing to harass Joanna Francescut at her potential new employer. I hope she sues him into insolvency.
Agreed.
https://youtu.be/Zp7YrPL56cA
Yes he was…. Starts at about 7:00 minutes in, they stopped around 22 minutes in. I hope Joanna has a lawyer queued up!!
Joanna Francescut should not have to find employment in another county. She was the perfect elections office staff member to take the top job HERE. Patrick Jones and his ilk need to stop their harassing ways. His own district voted him out as their supervisor. Nuff said.
Totally not surprised. The infrastructure collapsed and bright minded folks left or were run off. Crye and company are such a fail.
Magrini is a POS!
What harm has Magrini suffered. His unethical maneuvering through the county coffers helped his financial success. Now his feelings are hurt.
I have no love for Crye but why didn’t magrini act when he was in a position to do something?
This guy is simply a 21st century carpetbagger.
Agreed, but if there’s one thing that I love, it’s when crooked con-men in power devour each other. What’s that old saying? “There’s no honor among thieves.” Scrumptious!
How much money is Mr Crye going to end up costing the taxpayers of our county?
Too much money is being wasted by Kevin Crye who is nothing but a minion of the Patrick Jones gang. As a die hard Republican I am so sick of these wackos making decisions that cost the taxpayers more and more money when they are supposed to be focused on doing what is best for everyone. Vote them out as fast as possible!!!
Crye has cost county taxpayers millions, and counting, and we still have more than a year to go. The Rancheria deal he ram rodded through could easily cost us more than $100 million alone.