Fremont cop indicted for allegedly misusing data
system.
Jessica Cuffman
Fremont
Dec 20, 2013
A suspended Fremont police officer facing a felony
charge for improperly using a data system told investigators he was doing a
friend a favor, according to police reports.
Donnale Williams, 40, of Toledo, told investigators
he ran the information for his best friend of 32 years, so his friend could
find out where the mother of his children lived and take her to
court. Williams was indicted last month on the unauthorized use of
LEADS charge, a felony, and pleaded not guilty in Sandusky County
Common Pleas Court last week.
Police supervisors learned of the allegation when a
dispatcher, who had run the information at Williams’ request, reported her
suspicions.
In October, Williams told the dispatcher he wanted
to check on a Social Security number, along with a computerized criminal
history for a court case.
When the dispatcher asked Williams for the court
case number, he told her he was working on it. Because the police station’s
in-house computer wasn’t working at the time, she thought that was why he
wasn’t able to get the case number, according to a police report.
Later, when the computer was back up, the
dispatcher searched for the woman’s court case, but couldn’t find any record
that Fremont police had contact with her.
The dispatcher ran one search but not a second,
more advanced one. Williams told her again it was for a court case.
When investigators spoke to Williams about the
issue, he admitted he improperly made the request.
“Williams stated that he came in and asked to run a
Social and a CCH like an idiot for a friend and that was it,” according to the
report.
He denied he had told the dispatcher it was for
court, but said she did ask him for a case number.
Use of LEADs, the Law Enforcement Automated Data
System, is highly restricted. It’s supposed to be used for official reasons
only.
The searches reveal an individual’s traffic
and criminal history at the local, state and federal levels.
Such a violation is a fifth-degree felony
punishable by up to a year in prison.
When Fremont investigators looked at Williams’ use
of the system in the past year, they found he also ran his own information six
times, a use that’s also restricted.
“Officer Williams stated he did not think running
himself through LEADS was a violation, since it was his own information he was
running,” the report said. “He stated (he) can’t harass himself by running it”
