Chandler detective suspended for misusing records
By Jim WalshThe Republic | azcentral.comFri Jan 31,
2014 11:33 PM
A Chandler police detective who violated policy by looking
up information about his wife’s lover in a police databank was suspended
without pay for four days, or one workweek, records show.
Garrett Dever told police investigating his actions that he
suspected “something was going on” between his wife, former Tempe Detective
Jessica Dever-Jakusz, and the man he looked up in the Arizona Criminal Justice
Information system databank.
Officers are not allowed under law to access the system for
personal use, but Dever admitted that’s exactly what he did.
“Dever said he kind of went into a ‘panic’ and ‘his world
got flipped’ ” as he attempted to learn more about the man, according to a
Chandler police internal investigation.
Dever-Jakusz, once a highly respected officer, resigned
after a suspect who was the target of a drug investigation revealed that he had
an affair with her.
The drug suspect — who was under investigation for selling
“Molly,” a street drug similar to Ecstasy, at Mill Avenue clubs — said he was
stunned when Dever-Jakusz told him she was an undercover officer and identified
two other undercover officers. Police halted the investigation for fear that
the officers’ safety was compromised.
Dever-Jakusz was indicted Nov. 30 on charges of hindering
prosecution and conflict of interest as a public official. Prosecutors have
filed notice that they intend to use her employment as a police officer as an
aggravating factor in sentencing if she is convicted, according to court
records.
“At the time of the commission of the offense(s), the
defendant was a public servant and the offense(s) involved conduct directly
related to the defendant’s office or employment,” according to a court document
filed by prosecutor Kalon Metz.
A judge granted her defense attorney additional time to file
a motion to remand the case to the grand jury for reconsideration of charges,
according to the court records.
Garrett Dever told Chandler police that he wanted to “see
what he looked like,” according to the internal investigation, and that he was
distraught and in a “cloud.”
Police concluded Dever accessed the drug suspect’s
driver’s-license photo and performed a warrant check from a computer on his
desk on Sept. 12. He said he did not use the information for any purpose and
deleted it.
A suspension notice said the investigation sustained two
counts of conduct unbecoming an officer. One related to violating a criminal
statute of the state or the U.S. The second was for using police electronic
systems for personal benefit.
Lyle Mann, executive director of the Arizona Peace Officers
Standards and Training Board, said that it’s not uncommon for officers to abuse
the system for personal reasons and that he has no problem with Dever’s
discipline.
“It certainly makes sense,” Mann said. “It sounds like it’s
in the parameters of normal discipline in such circumstances.”
Sgt. Joe Favazzo, a Chandler police spokesman, said that
Dever was emotionally overwhelmed and that the key to the case was that he took
no actions against the drug suspect.
“If they do something with the information, we will
terminate them and possibly prosecute,” Favazzo said.
