FREMONT -- A city police detective is still looking into allegations of employee misconduct at the Sandusky County Jail, Chief Tim Wiersma said Friday.
Three corrections deputies -- Charlie Pump, Franklin Kaiser and Joshua Smith -- were placed on paid administrative leave Jan. 11, "pending the completion of an investigation for violation of work rules and policies," according to letters in their personnel files.
Two of the deputies have not been with the sheriff's office long and have relatively clean records, but the more senior of the three has a personnel file filled with reprimands and letters requesting he improve his performance.
Kaiser has received five official verbal warnings and three written reprimands for insubordination, alleged abuse of the sick leave system, sleeping on the job and other policy violations since his hiring as a corrections deputy in 2004.
In a 2008 letter, Capt. Diane Blue asked Kaiser to correct inappropriate behavior including reading when he should be working, passing gas in front of other employees and discussing his sexual behavior in front of co-workers.
"I am concerned about the nature of your attitude and laziness over the past few weeks," Blue wrote.
In a letter attached to the most recent written reprimand in October 2009, county jail administrator Maj. Tom Fligor wrote, "Your violations this year show a Progressive Discipline pattern."
In a May 2009 written reprimand for calling off sick the day before a scheduled day off, supervisors wrote, "You have a severe pattern of calling off sick in conjunction with days off." Another written reprimand was written in March 2009 after a supervisor reported twice overhearing Kaiser snoring during work hours.
In 2007, an inmate accused Kaiser of approaching him in an intimidating manner. He also was repeatedly cited for questioning and arguing with supervising officers on various occasions.
The deputy responded in writing to many of the reprimands, denying them or attempting to explain the incidents. Kaiser filed a union grievance in February 2009 regarding a verbal warning he was given for alleged inappropriate use of sick time.
In the file, Kaiser does have one positive item. Fligor wrote him a commendation in June 2005 for "professionalism" he displayed while dealing with an incident involving an inmate.
Pump was first hired as a corrections deputy by the sheriff's office in November 2008, though he was terminated in May 2009. In a letter to the deputy at that time, a "lack of funds" is cited as the reason for his termination.
Pump was rehired in July 2010 to the same position. He received only one verbal warning while at the jail.
In February 2009, Pump was warned for not following proper procedure in sending inmates back to their cells from the recreation area. Before working at the county jail, Pump worked as a Woodville police officer for two years.
Smith is the newest of the three deputies, hired in July. He received a good 120-day evaluation from Fligor in November and this is the first disciplinary matter in his personnel file.
Last week, Sheriff Kyle Overmyer and Fligor confirmed an investigation had begun and said the alleged misconduct was "not criminal in nature."
Since then, both have declined to comment further on who brought the issue to light or to give any details about the allegations themselves.
Sandusky County Prosecutor Tom Stierwalt said Friday afternoon he was redacting information from the Fremont detective's investigative file, for which The News-Messenger made a public records request this week. Stierwalt said the report may not be ready to be released until next week.
DELLWOOD, MO. (KTVI-FOX2.now.com)—
Serious crimes, including rape cases and child abuse cases, in Dellwood, Missouri, have gone unprosecuted and the mayor says it`s because of police misconduct. Officers allegedly mishandled critical evidence and never turned over investigations to prosecutors. But not everyone believes the allegations. The city of Dellwood put its chief on leave in November and St. Louis County loaned the city an administrative officer to fill the position. When he came in, Dellwood Mayor Loretta Johnson says he discovered trouble.
The department`s handling of evidence was in disarray. Officers had taken weapons confiscated in crimes for their own personal use, and sold copper that was evidence in another case to a scrap yard.
Those revelations sparked an audit, which uncovered disturbing details. In more than 120 crimes, Dellwood officers did not present the case to the St. Louis County prosecutor`s office to apply for warrants. And in dozens of cases, they never sent evidence to a lab for analysis.
"There are rape cases. You try explaining that to somebody`s daughter who was a rape victim and thought evidence was being taken seriously, and taken to St. Louis County for processing and it never made it," said Johnson.
But some of Johnson`s critics say this is politics at work. Johnson is in favor of dissolving Dellwood`s police department and allowing St. Louis County to take over. Four aldermen are on her side. But four others are not. They have been boycotting Board of Aldermen meetings since December to prevent a quorum from being present, so the board cannot vote on the takeover.
James Lovings is one of the aldermen boycotting the meetings. And he says the entire audit is biased and skewed, because the mayor supports the county takeover, and the county did the audit. 'You should be able to read between the lines on this,' he said.
"A lot of officers are not applying for warrants because they have already tried. The cases go there, sit in a lab for two or three months before you get results back, and then the end result, it`s denied."
"The problem is not just Dellwood. I`m sure other municipalities are experiencing this issue, where officers go and apply for different applications and it gets denied," he said. "And some of these cases are still being worked."
But the statute of limitations is up on some of the cases involved.
Based on the audit findings, Mayor Johnson is recommending three officers be terminated, but the firings need board approval. Until a board meeting happens, the officers are on unpaid leave.
Other officers will be disciplined, said City Administrator Frank Myers. "Part of the discipline will be training so these officers know how to properly do their jobs," he said. Some officers knew what to do, others had completed the process for a small number of cases, but "then totally neglected the process for a large percentage of others," he said.
Dellwood`s department is dwindling in numbers. Only seven full time officers remain, and two are taking jobs with St. Louis County in early February. Dellwood typically has 15 to 16 officers, but several have left due to the uncertain future. Some are applying for jobs with the county in anticipation of a takeover.
"This is not a witch hunt. The proof is there. It`s up to me to react to it," said Johnson. "I think the citizens that did not get justice deserve an answer and it`s up to me to ask the questions what happened"
