In a long-running lawsuit, a woman accuses police and deputies in Ferry County of failing to properly investigate when she reported a pattern of rape and molestation spanning 12 years of her childhood.

Among the defendants is Loren Culp, who is now the police chief in the town of Republic and a Republican candidate for Washington governor. The lawsuit alleges Culp and two other law enforcement officers intimidated the victim, threatened to charge her with making false claims and failed to report her allegations to child welfare authorities as required by law.

The lawsuit was filed in 2017, before Culp announced his gubernatorial bid and before he became a celebrity among conservatives for refusing to enforce gun restrictions approved by Washington voters in 2018.

The victim was 17 when she first reported the sexual abuse in late 2013. Although Ferry County authorities quickly dismissed her story as “made up,” the Benton County Sheriff’s Office launched its own investigation after the victim’s grandparents got involved, leading to the 2014 arrest of a male relative, Roy A. Moore Jr. Benton County authorities reported a second young woman came forward to say Moore had molested her, but it was too late to file charges.

Moore pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree child molestation in early 2015, as prosecutors agreed to drop additional charges of child rape and incest. He was sentenced to 67 months in prison but was released in December. Now 57, he will remain under state supervision as a sex offender for the rest of his life.