PAGE ONE COMMENTARY

Police Chief Lee: Lying Cops Will Not Be Tolerated

IS A NEW DAY DAWNING AT THE KEY WEST POLICE DEPARTMENT?

by Dennis Reeves Cooper

Two weeks ago, we published a commentary about Key West Police Officer Kelly Thomas resigning after he got caught lying about an accident he had in his patrol car. He was facing some serious discipline, including possible termination.

The purpose of the commentary was to ask, editorially, if this incident might be signaling that a new day was dawning at the Key West Police Department (KWPD). Is it possible that new Police Chief Donnie Lee was sending a message to his troops that lying cops would no longer be tolerated in the department?

It seems to us a fair question to ask because, during almost two decades of observing the antics of the cop shop here, we have noted that, for some officers, lying is a way of life. They lie to protect their own behinds— like Kelly Thomas did. They lie to protect other officers’ behinds. And sometimes they lie to “get” other officers who won’t lie, or who refuse to turn a blind eye to corruption and incompetence in the department.

Keep in mind that it was well known that former Police Chief Bill Fortune had lied to get his job with the KWPD back in 1985. He had been forced to resign as a sheriff’s deputy after he got caught having sex with an underage boy. He forgot to mention that when he applied for the job with the KWPD.

When somebody ratted on him a few years later, he was suspended for a few days. But in 2004, when then-Key West City Manager Julio Avael was looking for a replacement for disgraced Police Chief Buz Dillon, Fortune apparently seemed like the perfect pick.

But, maybe, the times they are a-changin’. This week, during an hour-long interview, Chief Lee told us that, under his administration, cops caught lying will face stringent discipline. He said that, had Officer Thomas just told the truth about a relatively minor accident, he may have faced some kind of minor discipline— but it is unlikely that he would have been fired.

In the early morning hours of May 29 of this year, Thomas was driving east on South Roosevelt Boulevard. He took his eyes off the road for a few seconds to try to find something in the car’s center console— and he ran up over the center median island at the entrance to the Seaside condominiums. Both tires on the lefthand side of the car were blown out and both rims were damaged.

But rather than just call his supervisor and tell him what had happened, Thomas concocted a story about being forced off the road and over a curb by another patrol car speeding to respond to an emergency. And he told this story to the officer filling out the official crash report— an official police report. According to state law, that is a criminal offense.

The police union lawyer, who represented Thomas during the internal investigation, argued that it’s okay for a cop to lie— as long as he doesn’t do it on an official report.

But Chief Lee told us that he doesn’t buy into that argument. “Any officer who gets caught lying on my watch should expect to face the consequences,” he said.

We reminded him of a case in which Officer Luis Sanchez arrested a man on drunk driving charges— even though he did not conduct any roadside sobriety test. On his official arrest affidavit, Sanchez said that the man “became violent” during the test— so he hauled him off to jail.

But the video from Sanchez’ own dashboard camera clearly showed that the man had not acted violently in any way. And after the assistant state attorney assigned to prosecute the case saw that video, all charges were dropped. When Officer Thomas lied, nobody was taken to jail and nobody had to hire a lawyer. And in that case, Thomas was threatened with prosecution on criminal charges.

But because of Sanchez’ lie, a man went to jail and had to spend thousands of dollars to hire a lawyer. But nobody in the State Attorney’s Office (SAO) filed charges against Sanchez for lying on an official report. And no internal affairs (IA) investigation was opened by the KWPD.

Here’s why:

First of all, Bill Mauldin was Chief of Police when the incident occurred. Mauldin didn’t seem to care much if his cops lied— although he might use that allegation if it might help him get rid of an honest cop. Under the Mauldin administration, honest cops were considered dangerous, because he couldn’t depend on them to cover up the corruption and incompetence in his department.

And he was probably right to be worried. You probably recall that, just last April, Mauldin resigned in the midst of allegations that he repeatedly sexually harassed one of his female employees. We know that it was not the employee who blew the whistle on him. We suspect it was an honest cop. Back to Sanchez: If the SAO had put Sanchez on the stand to testify under oath that the man had become violent— and, then the defense lawyer had showed the jury the video which clearly shows the man had not become violent, Sanchez would have forever been discredited as a credible witness and could never be allowed to testify in any court case again.

In fact, Chief Lee told us that credibility in court was one reason he was probably going to fire Officer Thomas, had he not resigned. Lying about the accident destroyed his credibility. So, in the Sanchez case, the SAO protected him and Mauldin protected him.

Chief Lee suggested this week that, if Sanchez was guilty of wrongdoing, the SAO should have filed charges. But he said the case was too old for him to open an IA— even though we offered to loan him our copy of the falsified affidavit and the video.

We also asked Chief Lee about another case of cop-lying. Last November, we published a story about an incident that happened at a police union meeting. Lt. Jim Benkoczy had the floor and was, reportedly, railing about the number of officers who were apparently leaking information to Key West The Newspaper. Also, reportedly, he had made a number of trips to the open bar.

When the meeting was almost over, Sgt. Hollis “Woody” Wood had something he wanted to say. But Benkoczy still wouldn’t shut up.

Finally Wood insisted on having his say. “We’ve been listening to you for 10 minutes and I am sick and tired of you trying to intimidate us!” he told Benkoczy.

But Benkoczy still refused to yield, even when the union official in charge of the meeting gave Wood the floor. “What do you mean?” Benkoczy slurred. “I’m not trying to intimidate anybody.”

“Oh, yeah?” Wood turned to the audience and asked, “How many of you think he has been trying to intimidate us?” Sources who were at the meeting say that the room erupted into applause. Some officers stood and clapped. It is what happened next that relates to lying cops. A few days later, Benkoczy’s good buddy, Sgt. Pablo Rodriguez sent a formal memo to Lt. Alfredo Vasquez accusing Wood of threatening to physically attack Benkoczy. But according to officers who were at the meeting, Rodriguez’ memo was nothing but a big fat lie. Reportedly, the objective was to cause an internal investigation to be launched to “get” Wood for daring to stand up to Benkoczy.

Although no investigation was ever launched, Rodriguez’ alleged lie went unchallenged. Chief Lee told us this week that, as a captain at that time, he pushed for an investigation— not to “get” Wood, but to find out the truth about that bizarre incident and let the chips fall where they might. He said he was overruled.

And for the record, Lee said that it might be a good idea to ban alcohol at the police union meetings.

We also asked Chief Lee about the case of Tom Neary, the officer who was fired for allegedly telling fellow officers that he was some kind of undercover federal agent. One of the primary pieces of evidence against Neary was a transcript of a clandestine recording of a conversation between Neary and his supervisor. The transcript was produced by KWPD officers, not a professional court reporter.

It is still unclear if the recording was even legal. KWPD investigators say the FBI authorized the recording. But in a sworn statement, the local FBI agent says he did not authorize it.

We told Lee that we had compared the transcript to the actual recording and that it was quite obvious that some wording had been changed to make it appear that Neary was incriminating himself. If this allegation is true, then the officers who produced the transcript may be guilty of falsifying evidence— a criminal offense.

In a sworn statement, former Police Chief Bill Mauldin said he initially placed Neary on administrative leave based on what he read in the transcript. Chief Lee, who ultimately made the decision to fire Neary, admitted that he had never compared the transcript to the actual recording, but he said, if there were any errors, he is convinced that they are “inadvertent.” And he said he had no intention of launching an investigation to try to determine if the transcript was purposely falsified.

Neary has repeatedly argued that he was railroaded out of the department because he had called a number of examples of corruption and incompetence to the attention of high-ranking officers, including Chief Mauldin, and they were afraid that he might go public with that information.

Neary has sued the city and that lawsuit is working its way through the court system. We also asked Chief Lee about the report that was leaked to the press last year that Neary’s personal handgun he carried while on duty had been stolen. It has now been established that the number on the gun that was initially sent to the NCIC— the National Crime Information Center— was not the gun’s serial number. It was a part number. Apparently, the officer assigned to do the NCIC check did not know where to find the serial number on a .357 Smith & Wesson Magnum.

The serial number was not sent to the NCIC until several days later. And a subsequent check by the ATF— the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives— cleared the weapon as not stolen.

But for days, rather than admit the mistake, Chief Mauldin and then-Public Information Officer (PIO) Christie Phillips told the press that it was “standard procedure” to send part numbers, as well as the serial numbers of guns to the NCIC. That was a lie.

This week, Chief Lee acknowledged for the first time that sending the part number to the NCIC rather than the serial number had been a mistake and he said, “Had I been the chief then, I would have never attempted to cover up the mistake.

I would have directed my PIO to tell the press the truth.” Ironically, just a few weeks after Mauldin was lying to the press, he resigned in the midst of allegations that he had repeatedly sexually harassed Phillips. Even though he was willing to resign without a fight, he told investigators that he was not guilty of any wrongdoing. Right. And chickens have lips.

So . . . is a new day dawning at the KWPD? No more lying? No more trying to cover up corruption and incompetence by giving false information to the press? Chief Lee says yes.

Stay tuned.

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Comments

[Angelo]

Does anyone else wonder how Chief Lee could come to the conclusion that it was the right thing to do by firing Officer Neary? After all, in your artical, Chief Lee admitted that he hadn't compared the transcript to the actual recording, yet he stated he is "convinced" that any errors were inadvertent.

How could anyone come to that conclusion without having heard, examined or investigated ALL of the evidence in the matter?

Isn't it prudent to have all of the facts before you prior to making a decision that is as serious as putting a father, a husband and an officer out of a job?

Maybe Chief Lee is intent on eliminating lying from the KWPD, (I hope he is) however it seems painfully obvious to me that Chief Lee is lying to himself if he thinks that without reviewing all the pertinent information available to him in the Neary matter, he afforded himself the opportunity to make the right decision.

So if Chief Lee intends on cleaning up the lying, he should set the example and that would have to include not lying to himself.

[Rhonda Saunders]

I couldn't agree more, Angelo.

[fly]

feeling the same here. One must be careful of what statements you make to the news media! Your words will come back to haunt you. Chief Lee before you comment THINK first.

[Seen It Before]

I give Donnie Lee a year, then he will go the way of all the other recent Chiefs at KWPD. He will come to rue the day he decided to give up his Captains position and take that job.

[Mark]

Give Donnie Lee a chance and not hold him accountable to actions committed under the old chief.

[fly]

Who would ever want the job as Chief of Police of the Key West Police Department! You are damn if you do and damn if you don't. I am willing to give Lee a chance, I know he is a good person. Let him do the job he was hired to do and stop the second guessing. This man is smart and has a great since of community.

[Rhonda Saunders]

Tom Neary is a good person, too, and Lee knows that very well.

Lee didn't have the balls to attempt to right that wrong. He made highly symbolic changes--sending quick and easy messages--like getting rid of Mauldin's corny PD badges and firing a probationary officer for her Internet indiscretions. I think if he'd wanted to make a real statement about the end of the Mauldin era, he'd have exposed the Neary railroading for what it was. But that may have been too risky so early on, and very unpopular with many of the higher ranking repeat offenders who had much to fear from having a meddling honest cop on the force.

Like everybody else, I have high hopes that Lee will grow into his authority and have the wherewithal to do the right thing, no matter what kind of internal pressure he feels. It's too late for Neary, and now we'll need to pay for screwing up his life. But we can hope KWPD blunders like that are a thing of the past. It appears, based on the page one commentary this week, that even Dennis Cooper believes in such a possibility.

[Angelo]

Mark, you say give Chief Lee a chance and not hold him accountable for the actions of disgraced former Chief Mauldin. I couldn't agree more, however; it is Chief Lee's actions and words that are at issue here. Chief Lee has to take responsibility for firing officer Neary without (his own words) fully reviewing all of the circumstances and reports.

If Chief Lee is serious about ending the era of the lying cop, he should begin by demonstrating immense integrity and announce a full and independent review of the investigation concerning officer Neary. This would be unpopular among Neary detractors, however; If he then concludes that Neary was in fact guilty, then you can say bravo to the Chief for doing it the right way.

Leadership isn't doing the right thing some of the time or even most of the time. Leadership is doing the right thing all of the time, even when no one is looking.

[fly]

Well said Angelo!! I personally think Lee should take a close look at some of his top people, which are already posturing themselves in hopes Lee will fail. It is just that climate which looms over KWPD.

[fly]

Happy Thanksgiving to the Staff of Key West The Newspaper.

[kwcop]

It appears that the article is somewhat inaccurate. I have knowledge that Chief Lee examined all of the Neary file including all of the transcripts and recordings. I encourage everyone blogging to review the entire file for themselves instead of relying on the opinion and spin of someone else.

[Angelo]

That is absolutely amazing that you would have information that Chief Lee examined all of the Neary file despite the fact that Chief Lee himself stated he hadn't examined all of the Neary file.

Perhaps you should advise Chief Lee that he has examined the entire file because it is apparent that he is unaware of that little fact.

[kwcop]

Angelo, you are assuming what Mr. Cooper writes is accurate and factual. Perhaps someone should advise Mr. Neary to see a mental health professional. I don't think Mr. Neary is a bad man, he just needs some psychiatric help. READ THE FILE!

[Angelo]

And if you wanted to have any credibility for your comments, you wouldn't hide behind the kwcop signature, but rather you'd sign your name as I did.

Failing to sign your name will only lead those who view this paper to believe that you are one of the disgraced former Chief's good ole boys. You wouldn't want that now, would you?

As for the statements made in the paper by Mr.Cooper, if they weren't accurate, I'm certain that Chief Lee would have addressed that himself. I doubt that he would need the help of someone who doesn't have the integrity to stand up for what he believes in by putting his name behind his words.

[B. Cellini]

Angelo: Your comments make you sound ignorant, angry and personally involved. I am not against you, I just don't want you to scare the cop away. Truth be told, we all have seen writers and editors make errors. Don't be so eager to judge!!!
I want to read the file... How do I get it?
Be nice to the cop, so we can get another point of view and make a better decision.
You have me on your side. You make good points and you sound intelligent, but your approach worries me. If you continue to get nasty, you will lose this paper viewer's support. You would not want that now, would you?

[Angelo]

So kwcop proclaims that Neary should go for psychiatric help, even though, I presume, that kwcop doesn't double up as a doctor, and I'm the one being nasty?

Perhaps I was too harsh by suggesting kwcop have the decency to attach his name to his words. After all, integrity isn't really important when you are passing judgment on another, is it?

I appreciate your kinds words concerning my points, however; I must respectfully disagree with you on your choice of who has posted nasty responses here.

I especially appreciate the fact that although you had an issue with something I wrote, you had the decency to post your name to it and not hide behind your words.

Angelo: With all respect, in the spirit of blogging, the name is not as important as the view or opinion, come on!!! I used the word "nasty" in attempt to describe your now obvious close minded approach. You clouded the issue with a personal attack about his integrity, and continued to blast away even when responding to me.
look at the facts without appearing to be getting paid to believe just one side.
I'd like to look at the facts, if I can get them... The facts will assist the viewers create a well informed decision. Isn't that what you want?
Kwcop: I wont question whether or not you are a MD. Based on life experience, most people can see when others need psychiatric assistance. Do explain how Mr. Neary, if mentally ill, was able to survive amongst you, undetected for so long.

[B. Cellini]

Angelo: With all respect, in the spirit of blogging, the name is not as important as the view or opinion, come on!!! I used the word "nasty" in attempt to describe your now obvious close minded approach. You clouded the issue with a personal attack about his integrity, and continued to blast away even when responding to me.
look at the facts without appearing to be getting paid to believe just one side.
I'd like to look at the facts, if I can get them... The facts will assist the viewers create a well informed decision. Isn't that what you want?
Kwcop: I wont question whether or not you are a MD. Based on life experience, most people can see when others need psychiatric assistance. Do explain how Mr. Neary, if mentally ill, was able to survive amongst you, undetected for so long.

[B. Cellini]

Angelo: By the way, you write just like M. Barnes. Do you think you are Michael Angelo?
It is OK. I am Benvenuto Cellini and Mr Neary works for the FBI.

[Angelo]

Mr. Cellini, you confuse me. You said, "I'd like to look at the facts, if I can get them." So if you don't have the facts, then how is it that you have determined that Mr. Neary works for the FBI?

[Dennis Cooper]

In my commentary on Chief Lee's policy on lying cops, published on November 21, I quoted Chief Lee as saying he had not compared the clandestine recording in the Neary case to the police transcript. Since that time, KWPD spokeswoman Alison Crean has informed me that the quote was incorrect-- that Chief Lee did, indeed, compare the recording with the transcript. If so, that makes the problem of the wording changes in the transcript more of a problem. A professional court reporter has now produced a transcript of the recording. And that professional transcript clearly shows that there are at least two instances in which wording on the recording was changed on the transcript prepared by the KWPD to make it seem like Neary was incriminating himself. Lee admits that there are errors in the police transcript, but he says those errors are "inadvertent" and that he has no intention of launching an investigation to try to determine if any officer or officers purposely falsified evidence against Neary. This is one of the questions I posed in my commentary: If Chief Lee knows that the transcript produced by his officers contain errors, why hasn't he already taken action to correct the record? Maybe "kwcop"-- the guy who is afraid to sign his name to his correspondence-- can answer that question for us all.

Dennis Reeves Cooper
Publisher
Key West The newspaper

[Angelo]

Yes Dennis, and maybe Santa will bring you a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader for Christmas.

No one is going to answer your questions with the truth. I found it very interesting that your article contained the words lie or lying nineteen times and the word truth just twice. And one of those two times it was used in the context that an officer did not tell the truth.

[off the record, don't have my mothers blessing]

My 73 year old mother was sexually assaulted and strangled in front of our home in July of 2007 in old town at 6am ish in the morning. Her attacker is still in the local jail. I say slimy bologna and the rest of it is perfectly acceptable for those that choose to commit such a crime. Why not let us worry about children, animals and the innocent victims instead of worrying about what criminals are fed. Just the way I feel even in times of good tiddings. I do understand that sometime innocents are unjustly jailed and need to be protected, this attacker is not. This attacker still influences our lives and I could care less that his food is under par. If the paper wants my personal info, just ask.

[Rhonda Saunders]

Without rereading it, I believe Dr. Cooper pointed out that the the incarceration experience is DESIGNED to be unpleasant.
I think the overall point of the commentary may be that the sheriff's office is sometimes perceived as unresponsive to the public (or that they make the process more cumbersome than some believe it ought to be), but they are bound by public information laws.

I remember reading about what happened to your mother. I'm so sorry.

Thanks, sincerely, for sharing your thoughts.