Jefferson County is the target of a federal lawsuit involving allegations of slander, unfair hiring practices, electronic eavesdropping and paramedics having sex in the county’s ambulance barn.
Former county paramedic Judy Heisel is suing Jefferson County Attorney Chauncey Moulding, Jefferson County Ambulance Service Medical Director Dr. Amanda Moreno, former county supervisor Dee Sandquist, and county supervisors Lee Dimmitt and Susie Drish.
Court records indicate that in October 2023, Jefferson County created a public ambulance service to provide residents with emergency medical services. In May 2023, the board hired Heisel as the county’s ambulance service base manager with a starting salary of $65,000. Heisel then reported to Ambulance Director Brian Thomas, who earned $85,000 at the time. In April 2024, Thomas resigned and Sandquist asked Heisel if she would step into the role as interim director.
The lawsuit alleges that on April 29, 2024, Heisel became aware that EMT Damien Wimmer of the Jefferson County Ambulance Service had engaged in conduct outside his scope of practice and that she immediately reported the violation to Jack Reed of human resources and to Moreno, the medical director. Wimmer was then suspended for two weeks, according to the lawsuit.
Moreno allegedly assured Heisel she would take care of reporting the matter to state regulators with the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services’ Bureau of EMS.
According to the lawsuit, Wimmer, while working as a Libertyville first responder in May 2024, again engaged in EMS work that fell outside his scope of practice.
Heisel alleges she reported that incident to Reed and Moreno, as well as the state’s regional EMS coordinator.
Shortly thereafter, Heisel allegedly learned that Moreno had not formally reported the first incident with Wimmer to DHHS as required. On June 21, 2024, Heisel reported both incidents and Wimmer was terminated as an EMT with Jefferson County Ambulance Service the same day. The lawsuit alleges Wimmer and Moreno “have been close friends for several years.”
The lawsuit claims Moreno did not want Heisel to be hired as ambulance director due to Heisel’s reporting of Wimmer’s conduct.
State disciplinary records indicate Wimmer had been previously sanctioned for exceeding his authorized scope of practice. In November 2013, the bureau issued Wimmer a letter of warning for representing himself as a paramedic while certified as a less-qualified EMT.
In March 2014, Wimmer was alleged to have exceeded his scope of practice by initiating an intravenous line on a patient, and attempting to do so on a different patient. The bureau suspended his certification for one month and placed it on probation until April 2017.
In November 2015, he was again accused of using an intravenous line on a patient, exceeding his scope of practice. As a result of those allegations, the bureau suspended his license for two months and again placed it on probation for two years.
State records indicate the bureau has taken no public action against Wimmer as a result of the 2024 allegations.
Allegations of sex in the workplace
According to Heisel’s lawsuit, Supervisor Sandquist appointed Moreno and Reed to serve on the “hiring committee” to fill the position of ambulance director. Heisel was the only internal applicant for the job, the lawsuit alleges.
On June 20, 2024, Sandquist, Reed and Moreno conducted, via Zoom, Heisel’s first interview for the ambulance director’s position.
Four days later, Supervisor Dimmitt, while in Heisel’s office, had a phone conversation with Supervisor Drish, about the hiring process, with Drish on speakerphone so Heisel could participate in the conversation.
According to the lawsuit, Supervisor Dimmitt expressed frustration with the hiring process, claiming Sandquist did not tell her fellow supervisors who any of the outside applicants were, and Dimmitt and Drish each voiced support of Heisel.
On June 26, 2024, Heisel’s second interview took place with Moreno allegedly participating via Zoom due to her being at the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri, vacationing with the recently fired Wimmer, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit alleges that about 30 minutes into the interview, Moreno stated that nobody was addressing “the elephant in the room,” which she described as the “internal Dumpster fire” that was the ambulance service.
According to the lawsuit, Moreno then asked Heisel specifically what had happened with Brian Thomas, the former ambulance director, and then clarified that she was “referring to Heisel having sexual relations with Thomas.”
In her lawsuit, Heisel alleges she responded by stating that she was not going to discuss her personal life, to which Moreno replied the issue wasn’t her personal life but that Thomas had been her boss.
Moulding, the county attorney, allegedly advised the board members it was their interview and they could ask whatever questions they deemed appropriate, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit states a heated discussion between Dimmitt and Moreno ensued, during which the medical director said the county was being put at risk, adding that she’d “heard that Heisel and Thomas were having sex in the ambulance building,” and that people were telling her that Heisel was abusing prescription drugs.
“Dr. Moreno said something like we can’t have people abusing prescription substances or being put on EKGs and getting IVs at work — all in reference to Heisel,” the lawsuit states.
Electronic eavesdropping charges filed
On July 11, 2024, Reed, from human resources, allegedly had a phone conversation with Heisel in which he stated Moreno had opened up a floodgate of potential liability for Jefferson County based on the statements she had made during the second job interview.
The board subsequently voted to offer the ambulance director job to one of the outside candidates, Josh Hemminger, who accepted the offer and was hired at a salary of $85,000.
Immediately after an Aug. 5, 2024, meeting that formalized Hemminger’s hiring, the lawsuit alleges, county officials made “a theoretical job offer” to Heisel, although it did not provide her with the proposed job title, duties or pay and told her she had to accept the offer immediately or she’d no longer be employed.
“The county then presented her with severance paperwork, suggesting that the offer of employment was not bona fide,” the lawsuit claims. “Heisel rejected the severance package,” and Moulding indicated she should “pack up her belongings and leave that very day.”
According to the lawsuit, a few hours after Heisel left the county’s ambulance building, Fairfield police were dispatched to the building on a report of destruction of property. Moulding allegedly informed the officers the county’s information-technology staff had notified him there had been a network intrusion of the computers at the ambulance building. It was reported that computers appeared to be “factory reset,” resulting in the loss of all the information storied on the computers.
No one was arrested as a result of the police complaint, the lawsuit alleges.
On Aug. 13, 2024, a formal complaint was filed with the Iowa Public Information Board alleging the board violated Iowa’s Open Meetings Law when two of the three county supervisors discussed the hiring process on June 24, 2024.
Attached to the complaint was an audio recording of the phone conversation, which IPIB forwarded to Moulding, the county attorney.
The IPIB complaint was then resolved with an “informal resolution” in which the parties agreed the county could be found in violation of the law. According to the lawsuit, Moulding then signed an affidavit alleging Heisel had recorded her end of the Aug. 5, 2024, discussion about her future with the county in violation of Iowa law, then forwarded that affidavit to the Washington County Attorney’s Office for consideration of criminal charges.
The lawsuit claims that in his affidavit, Moulding alleged Heisel was asked to show Hemminger around the building, at which point the two left the ambulance director’s office. Moulding, Drish and an assistant county attorney allegedly remained in the director’s office where, at some point, Moulding noticed Heisel had left her cell phone on her desk. Moulding allegedly waved his hand above the phone, activating the screen, which indicated the conversation in the room was being recorded.
In January 2025, Fairfield police criminally charged Heisel with felony interception of communications and misdemeanor electronic and mechanical eavesdropping. On June 6, 2025, a jury found Heisel not guilty of both charges.
Heisel’s lawsuit, which was recently transferred from state court to federal court, seeks unspecified damages for alleged slander, malicious prosecution and abuse of process, as well as alleged violations of the Iowa Civil Rights Act through gender discrimination, Iowa’s law prohibiting retaliation against employees for engaging in protected activity, and Heisel’s Fourth Amendment rights as it relates to the county attorney’s actions with her phone.
