A former Juneau fire captain has been sentenced to more than a year in prison for physically assaulting his stepdaughter.
The State of Alaska filed criminal charges against Brent Clancy in June of last year. But Clancy was still employed with the city’s fire department for two more months — until the end of August. The city’s Human Resources and Risk Management Director Dallas Hargrave said Clancy was not actively working during that time.
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City and Borough of Juneau personnel code discusses what happens if an employee is accused of a crime. Employees can be disciplined or terminated for a few reasons: if there’s a clear nexus, or link, between the offense and the employee’s duties, if a violation impairs the employee’s ability to perform their job, or if the action adversely affects the city.
“We have to make an initial determination, though, knowing that there’s alleged conduct that had occurred about whether or not you know what should happen in the interim while the criminal investigation is going on,” Hargrave said.
He said handling cases like these comes down to identifying that “clear nexus.”
“Sometimes there’s like it doesn’t look like there’s much of a nexus and the person can be in their job and it’s fine,” he said. “Other times it’s pretty clear that there is a nexus between the alleged misconduct and their job”
Hargrave spoke to KTOO earlier this summer, before Clancy was convicted. He said if there is that clear nexus, the city may put someone on paid administrative leave.
Clancy was not put on administrative leave.
Sometimes people in these situations take personal leave instead, he said. Hargrave can’t confirm whether or not Clancy took personal leave, just that he wasn’t working at the fire department.
Clancy resigned two months after being charged.
In other cases, when someone doesn’t resign, they can be subjected to “fit for duty” examinations. Those are psychological evaluations firefighters take before starting a job.
Since Clancy wasn’t actively working at CCFR and then resigned, Hargrave said the city didn’t have to make a decision about his employment. And because personnel matters are confidential, he’s also unable to reveal if HR received any complaints related to Clancy’s time at CCFR.
Clancy’s wife, Sommer, though, spoke out in court about people feeling unsafe around Clancy in the workplace or seeing signs of his violence.
“So, although he was a great firefighter, he did great things, it wasn’t all wonderful,” she said. “He had a lot of complaints and fears, and people were scared at work to be around him.”
Sommer also works for the fire department. She and Clancy both worked there at the same time for a number of years.
She testified at Clancy’s sentencing hearing.
“Four veteran firefighters of 20 years or more reached out to me, stating that they have seen the signs over the last 20 years of working with him, and they are so sorry for never saying anything and never speaking up,” she said. “A handful of his shift mates, just as his last year of working, co-level and subordinates, have reached out to me, saying they requested to be moved off his shift because they did not feel comfortable around him, they were not safe, and all of these people have said that they are so sorry for not speaking up and they didn’t feel like they could.”
Former CCFR Chief Rich Etheredge told KTOO that the charges against Clancy and his conviction were “shocking and unexpected.”
“Brent has been in a really good place for a while, and to hear that he got in trouble like this was pretty surprising,” he said. “I didn’t think that he was capable of something like that.”
Etheridge said he and Clancy worked together for more than 20 years. There had been some complaints about Clancy’s anger at work, he said, but not for the last few years.
He said his staff have expressed fear of retaliation in general at the department, but that no one has given him a specific report.
“Some folks felt that there was a possibility of retaliation, but nobody could actually articulate any retaliation that’s ever happened,” Etheridge said.
Before Etheridge retired at the end of 2025, CCFR was trying to change the culture, he said.
“We’re just trying to make people feel safe and able to talk to the city or the department,” he said. “And if they didn’t feel they could talk to the leadership in the department that they go directly to HR or even the manager’s office to make sure things were addressed.”
The new fire chief, Tom Hatley, said since he’s joined CCFR, Clancy’s case hasn’t been a main focus.
“It wasn’t anything that was lingering in our fire department,” he said.
And he said that while Brent Clancy is no longer with the department, Sommer Clancy still works there.
“She is part of our family,” Hatley said. “So we’re supporting her in every way we can.”
