Former University of Idaho assistant professor Ernesto A. Bustamante admitted to having sexual relationships with Katy Benoit and other students, according to an employment timeline released by UI officials today.
The release of employment history was the result of District Court Judge John Stegner’s Oct. 3 ruling that UI release all personnel files for Bustamante following the university’s request for legal clarification on the right to privacy for former, deceased employees.
Bustamante is the shooter who killed Benoit outside her home Aug. 22 and was later found dead at a Moscow hotel from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. In the weeks following the deaths, UI released a timeline outlining Benoit’s contact and complaints with the university pertaining to Bustamante.
Benoit first contacted UI June 10 to discuss her complaint against Bustamante, and was told to contact Moscow Police Department, Alternatives to Violence of the Palouse and to file an official written complaint. Her complaint was officially submitted to Carmen Suarez, director of Human Rights, Access and Inclusion, June 12 and officially sent to Bustamante July 6.
In the complaint, Suarez informed Bustamante he was not allowed to contact Benoit and asked him to meet in-person for HRAI. Bustamante responded to Suarez denying the allegations in Benoit’s complaint July 11, but set up an in-person interview with Suarez and Gary Williams, English department chair and co-investigator, for July 19.
In the interview, Bustamante admitted to having a sexual relationship with Benoit and other students who were not his advisees or students. He denied having a Utah concealed weapons permit, carrying a firearm on campus and that he had threatened Benoit with a weapon.
Bustamante also denied in the interview that he had a conversation with Katherine Aiken and Richard Reardon, dean and associate dean of the College of Letter, Arts and Social Sciences, respectively, in December 2010 where he was informed UI has no tolerance for sexual harassment or retaliation, and if he is involved with a student it must stop immediately.
The December conversation followed an anonymous call made to UI’s ethics and compliance hotline during which the caller said Bustamante was having sexual relationships with students. The caller also said Bustamante was having “an abusive and coercive relationship with one student.” The information had also been given to a UI faculty member the same day. UI confirmed that Benoit was not the caller, according to a note in the timeline.
During the July interview Bustamante asked what would happen if he resigned. Suarez said the process would end because of the lack of a respondent. The same day, Bustamante emailed Ken Locke, psychology department chair, with his intention to resign.
Bustamante submitted his official resignation and separation agreement Aug. 5. Per the agreement, Bustamante was to have limited access to his office and laboratory, accompanied access for removal of personal items and no access after Aug. 9. Bustamante’s employment with UI officially concluded Aug. 19, and Suarez met with Benoit Aug. 22 to inform her and encourage her to maintain contact with MPD.
The timeline also showed that Bustamante told Locke he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and treated it with medication during his first semester of employment in fall 2007.
UI officials said the remainder of Bustamante’s personnel files would be released to those who had submitted a public records request Thursday.