In a statement issued today, Benton County Sheriff's Sgt. Jack Burright said he is still qualified to be sheriff, despite reports last week that he exaggerated his educational background on county documents.

"The rest of the story is, I am experienced enough, trained enough, strong enough, and I am the right leader to be the next sheriff," he said in the statement.

Burright, 39, is running for sheriff against Undersheriff Diana Simpson. The contest will be on the November ballot because there are only two candidates.

His statement was in response to newspaper articles last week. The stories reported that he indicated he graduated from Corvallis High School when he got a GED instead; and had a degree pending from Linn-Benton Community College even though he had not completed the requirements. He had also bought a four-year degree online.

He has never claimed the bogus degree on any paperwork, but he did say he graduated from Corvallis High on job applications and his candidacy filing.

The Oregon State Police is conducting a criminal investigation into this, at the request of District Attorney Scott Heiser. In the meantime, Burright is on paid administrative leave.

Heiser said this morning there is nothing new to report on the investigation.

In the statement, Burright said he dropped out of high school during his senior year in 1985 because he got married, and he got his GED two years later through LBCC.

He went on to earn 90 more course credits at LBCC through 1991, but he didn't earn enough required credits to get an associates degree in criminal justice.

Following his studies at LBCC, Burright got a job as a police officer in Cannon Beach, then took a deputy job in the Benton County Jail.

"I passed two different background checks," he wrote. "I graduated from the police academy at Western Oregon University."

Burright purchased the four-year degree in July 2003 through "Farington University," an unaccredited Internet degree mill.

"One of my bosses recommended that I take classes online," he wrote. "I learned about an online university that could apply the college credits I had already earned, plus other training and experience, to earn a college diploma."

So he submitted his transcripts to Farington, along with the training he received from the police academy.

Farington sent him a diploma, and Burright wrote he "was delighted my knowledge and experience were rated 'summa cum laude.' "

"My training and vast law enforcement experience speaks for itself," he wrote. "Some colleges give military experience college credit as do some law enforcement programs; the degree was not from a diploma mill, rather it was a life-experience college credit degree program."

He said he put the diploma in his county personnel file, knowing it was "just a diploma from a website university. I have never suggested otherwise."

Burright said he went online a few years later to find more information about "Farington," only to find the website no longer existed. That made him suspicious, he wrote, and he stopped using the diploma "well before" the news articles last week.

Prior to him buying the Farington diploma, Burright entered Southwest University, an accredited online institution, to earn a four-year criminal justice degree. He expects to earn that degree next month.

He is not required to have a two or four-year degree to be in law enforcement or be a sheriff in Oregon.

Ian Rollins can be reached at ian.rollins@lee.net or 812-6077.