SULTAN, Wash. -- An employee inside the Sultan Police Department is under investigation for accessing secure government databases for personal gain.

KIRO Team 7 Investigative Reporter Chris Halsne discovers it's not the first time.

The Sultan Police Chief's administrative assistant lives on one side of a fence. The Harvie family on the other. It's safe to say the two don't get along. However, we've learned that dispute has now turned into a formal investigation into an abuse of local police power.

Working at the Sultan Police Department, Caroline Pepperell has access to all sorts of sensitive information. Her neighbor, Gayle Harvie, claims Pepperell misused those police resources in a campaign of harassment.

"I'm leery. I try to watch my back," Harvie said.

Harvie says problems began last summer after Pepperell's son stole a motorcycle from her garage.

Harvie claims the Sultan police chief's aide pressured her family to drop charges. Shortly after they refused, bad things started happening around the property.

“The two dogs that were poisoned were just 6 months old,” says Harvey, who raises Tibetan Mastiffs. One puppy died. Another one got violently ill from ingesting a substance called pentobarbital. That's a hard-to-get drug used to euthanize animals, usually available only to vets and animal shelters.

Harvey called police and told them Pepperell had motive and the access to kill her dogs. Snohomish County Sheriff's detectives agreed the dogs had been intentionally poisoned, but determined "no evidence could be found to prove who did it."

Harvey has a $5,000 reward for anyone who can solve the crime.

"Once you've had something like this happen, you become a prisoner to your home. You have to wonder when someone does something this cruel and malicious, what's their next step going to be?"

Snohomish detectives apparently did find evidence that Pepperell may have "misused government computer access" against her neighbor, including allegedly running Harvie as a "wanted person."

When that possibility surfaced, records show, Internal Affairs at the Washington State Patrol took over the case.

We caught up with Pepperell outside WSP headquarters in Olympia moments after the Office of Professional Standards finished interviewing her.

Chris: "We came to try to get to some comment from you on the allegations against you, can you talk to us today?"
Caroline: "No. I cannot."
Chris: "Can you comment on the allegations that you were using police resources to harass a neighbor?"
Caroline: "No."
Chris: "How about that you poisoned her dogs?"
Caroline: "No."
Chris: "You can't comment on that?"
Caroline: "No."
Chris: "How did the interview go with the State Patrol?"

This is not the first time Pepperell has been accused of professional misconduct. KIRO Team 7 Investigators discovered Pepperell used to be an animal control officer for the Mountlake Terrace Police force.

Disciplinary files show she was "terminated" in 1994 for misuse of police computers.

We'll let Mountlake Terrace Police Chief Scott Smith explain:

"She ran over 200 license plates of individuals for personal use. The investigation determined she would attend various functions, rodeos or different establishments and typically would find an individual she would find attractive, get their license plate and run their license plate."

Sultan Police Chief Fred Walser told us, "I have nothing to hide. She has nothing to hide."

However, he admits he knew Pepperell had been caught using Mountlake Terrace police computers to find dates. He hired her anyway.

Just before this investigation aired, he then stood on the corner by the police department and argued with me, saying I was pursuing a "non-story."

Chris: "It is of worthy news value to let people in this town know how their money is being spent."
Chief Walser: "All I can tell you is it's causing, it's causing problems for me."

And problems for the City of Sultan.

Records show tax coffers have been drained to the tune of $29,000 so far as the city investigates and hires lawyers to handle the Pepperell case.

Costs could reach $40,000, according to the Chief Wasler.

The Washington State Patrol won't comment until its investigation is complete. In the meantime, the Harvie family has set up an elaborate system of security on their property, to protect their animals.