GOODING - In a starched, brown sheriff's uniform, Gooding County detention deputy Jenifer Quigley is much less composed than she lets on.

She says that each day she continues working in the county jail, it feels more like a place she no longer belongs.

It's been nearly a year since witnesses saw a co-worker strike Quigley in the main office of the sheriff's department. But the criminal investigation that followed months later dug up much more than a dispute among county law enforcement employees.

Since the female detective who allegedly struck Quigley was also her live-in girlfriend for about a year, the case reached into their troubled domestic partnership and her own ambivalence about it. She said she's willing to discuss the events now because she feels she has no other legal recourse.

The couple's relationship, which they kept secret at work for about a year, along with the alleged violence associated with it, surfaced on the same day - July 24, 2007.

According to the Idaho State Police, two witnesses saw Det. Kris Johnson strike Quigley, leaving a red mark on Quigley's face. Co-workers told ISP investigators, however, that the two deputies appeared to be consensually rough-housing, county prosecutor Calvin Campbell said.

Meanwhile, Quigley told police that in the privacy of their Gooding home, Johnson's physical domination ranged from Johnson choking Quigley twice, striking her with the teeth-side of a garden rake and a wire coat hanger to forcing cat food and dog feces into Quigley's mouth.

Quigley left Johnson in October, moving in with her sister. Quigley said she would have left earlier, but feared exacerbating what she felt was a violent situation with Johnson.

Her aunt then tipped off Wendell Police, which turned over the case to Idaho State Police.

It was a watershed moment for Quigley, who says she recognized for the first time that she was in an abusive relationship.

Sheriff Shaun Gough, citing confidentiality surrounding personnel issues, declined comment on the closed case that culminated with Johnson leaving the department and marked the beginning of Quigley's discomfort at her job.

Gough has in recent months faced other problems at the jail, including September incident when an inmate escaped twice in one night.

Johnson declined to speak with the Times-News. Before she left the sheriff's office she told investigators the incident never happened, according to the ISPreport. She also said any violence between her and Quigley was playful and innocent.

A battery case was the last way Quigley wanted to reveal her sexual orientation, she said.

The couple met in August 2005, when Johnson accepted a job at the department. Quigley had started work there only a few weeks earlier.

Their relationship, lasting roughly a year, was marked by what seemed to be playful physical contact, Quigley said. The pair would routinely grapple, put each other in head locks and pinch each other, on the job and elsewhere.

The wrestling sometimes left Quigley with bruises, witnesses told investigators.

Gooding County Prosecutor Calvin Campbell declined to file charges against Johnson in April. He said neither the witnesses to the July incident nor Quigley could convincingly distinguish battery from consensual rough-housing. Nor was there enough evidence to support charges based on any other alleged battery.

"There were no charges or anything like that," he said. "It turned out to be more an internal thing," said Idaho State Police Detective Jim Hopkins. "I can just tell you to see if there was any criminal activity. We were not able to find any."

According to the ISPreport, Quigley "explained the–physical abuse–occurred so often that it no longer mattered if it happened at home or at work, she learned to 'just block it out.'"

Campbell said a lack of specifics made prosecution impossible.

"Those generalized statements (about abuse over time) are a concern," Campbell said. "When you are doing a prosecution you are not prosecuting a series of events. You are asking:–Did a battery occur? When did it occur? And does it meet the elements of a crime? And in the specific instances that we were aware of, we couldn't establish a case beyond a reasonable doubt to take to the jury."

Quigley said that after the investigation ended she felt like a pariah at work. She began to feel humiliated and excluded.

Quigley claims that her sexual orientation and inferior rank to Johnson also defined the course of the investigation.

"You can't trust law enforcement," Quigley said. "It's supposed to be a brotherhood. It just depends what brotherhood you're in. She's a detective. I'm just a jailer."

After the July incident both women took time off, then returned to work. The sheriff's office initiated a formal internal investigation three months after the incident.

Quigley faults Gough, saying that she perceived that he was contemptuous of her and Johnson's sexual orientation. After Johnson left the department, she said, Gough told her that he didn't want that "kind" of person working for his department.

"I know that's what he meant," Quigley said.

Johnson's attorney, Tony Valdez said in an email, "Kris cooperated fully with the investigations â€- regarding the claims made by Jenifer Quigley. No criminal charges were ever filed as a result of those investigations. Kris is no longer with the Gooding County Sheriff's Department and is currently pursuing employment opportunities in law enforcement outside the area."

Quigley said she now feels guilty for having a lesbian relationship that caused her family pain, and that she may never again become romantically involved.

Still, Quigley is staying put. She says the only way she'll leave her job is if the sheriff fires her.

Cassidy Friedman can be reached at 208-735-3241 or cfriedman@magicvalley.com.