$5 million of terror grant was misused by the Ohio Association of Chief's of Police

$5 million of terror grant was misused by police chiefs groug

Dublin-based organization must return money

Friday, April 15, 2011  03:06 AM

By Dean Narciso

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

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An eight-month federal Homeland Security audit has confirmed that the Ohio Association of Chiefs of Police mismanaged and misspent almost $5 million in federal grants designed to develop a statewide police network to help fight terrorism and other crime.

Questionable expenses included sending 20 Ohio police officials to Turkey and more than $800,000 in bonuses paid to the executive director of the Dublin-based association.
While the Ohio Local Law Enforcement Information Sharing Network is in operation today, and has been credited with helping statewide police agencies fight crime, its cost has been questioned.
The nonprofit association received about $21 million in Law Enforcement Terrorist Prevention Program grants from 2004 to 2006. Almost a quarter of that must now be returned to the federal government, even though it has been spent.

Advertising and program and membership fees remain existing sources of revenue for the group.
According to the report, released to the Ohio Department of Public Safety this week, more than $4.8 million in expenditures "were unallowable because they were unrelated to the grant activity, misclassified, outside the period of performance, or not supported by receipts or invoices."

The Ohio Emergency Management Agency, which was responsible for monitoring how the federal money was spent, was found "severely lacking" in its record-keeping and oversight, according to the audit.
The Department of Public Safety, which oversees the state EMA and has ultimate authority over the project, is responsible for returning the money if it can't justify the expenditures within the next three months.
"We're going to try to work with the OACP and try to find records to mitigate some of this," said Joe Andrews, department spokesman. "They didn't document it properly, and we didn't police it properly."
Andrews did not know how much of the spending could be verified.
About $227,000 was improperly used to send the Ohio police officials to Turkey to learn about terrorism. More than $180,000 was misspent on slick books and brochures about the project, award plaques and lapel pins that were not related to the grant objective. And more than $800,000 was given to the association's executive director in bonuses that were "unreasonable, unallowable, and inconsistent with grant guidance," according to the federal audit. In addition, of 832 timesheets required to verify salaries and wages during the three grant years, only 85 were documented.

The chiefs association, made up of police officials from departments across the state, was run by a professional association manager, Todd Wurschmidt, and a board of directors, mostly police chiefs.
Wurschmidt's website states the money he brought in "demonstrates Dr. Wurschmidt's fundraising prowess." He could not be reached for comment.

The federal government's analysis agrees with a similar study by local accounting firm Crowe Howath, retained by the Ohio Emergency Management Agency after questions arose in 2005 about questionable spending.

"We are going to work very closely to make an answer to this report," said OACP board president and Ada Police Chief Michael A. Harnishfeger. "That's the most prudent thing we can do right now."
Harnishfeger said all vendors have been compensated for work performed after the federal money stopped flowing into the association.

The ordeal has been trying for the association, but the network's value has been worth it, he said.
"For the first time ever, local law enforcement is able to share internal reports on very important matters that they previously were unable to share."
dnarciso@dispatch.com

Jury rules in ATV death case

Jury rules in ATV death case

6:35 PM, Mar. 21, 2011    

Written by

Janice Morse 

jmorse@enquirer.com

FILED UNDER

News

Local News

LEBANON - Warren County’s largest civil lawsuit – a wrongful-death case seeking $20 million – ended with a mixed verdict that means no money will be awarded to the parents of a dead 10-year-old girl. After deliberating about 12 hours, a Warren County jury Monday declared an all-terrrain vehicle was defective, as John and Tammie Sand of Lebanon had claimed. But the jury decided the ATV was not the “proximate cause” of the death of the Sands’ daughter, Ellie, after she went riding on a Yamaha Rhino 660 ATV in 2007.

Yamaha issued a news release declaring the verdict a victory: “This verdict in favor of Yamaha marks the sixth time overall that a jury has rejected plaintiffs’ claims regarding the Rhino.”

The company is facing hundreds of lawsuits similar to this one across the nation, though many have been consolidated into group actions filed in federal courts, said Michael Roberts, a lawyer for the Sands.

He said the jury’s verdict wasn’t a total victory for the manufacturer.

“It’s significant that a jury found the product defective despite Yamaha’s extensive arguments to the contrary,” Roberts said. “The jury concluded that ‘Your product’s defective, Yamaha, but we think that Nils’ driving was more defective,’” referring to Nils McElroy, the 21-year-old Midland, Ohio, man who was driving the ATV. 

McElroy pleaded guilty to a negligence charge of vehicular homicide. He was fined $1,000 and sentenced to 90 days in jail.

While pleased with the “defective” ruling, the Sands’ are “disappointed that people who had no knowledge of the defect were more responsible for Ellie’s death,” Roberts said. 

Ellie was the front passenger on the ATV on Oct. 27, 2007, when it flipped and pinned her to the ground during a church picnic in Oregonia. None of the five occupants wore helmets; it was uncertain whether Ellie wore a seat belt.

“Drivers and passengers should at all times wear helmets, protective gear and the vehicle’s three-point seat belts,” the company said, calling the Rhino “a safe and useful off-road vehicle when driven responsibly.”

“The testimony and evidence during the trial showed that this tragic incident had nothing to do with the design of the product, and underscores the importance of following the safety recommendations on our products and in the owner’s manual,” the company’s news release said.

Meanwhile, Ellie’s parents remain committed to work with industry groups and the Consumer Product Safety Commission “to get this thing fixed,” Roberts said.

Since Yamaha made some changes in the vehicle’s design, including widening its wheel base, there had been no deaths reported on the revamped Rhino, Roberts said. But on earlier models, there were at least 1,300 reported injuries and 95 deaths, Roberts said. Evidence rules prevented jurors from knowing about the deaths that happened after Ellie’s. She was the 28th person to die after riding a Rhino, Roberts said.

“Evidence rules were applied properly by the judge but it’s just unfortunate that the jury didn’t get to know everything,” Roberts said.

Roberts said he and his clients are exploring whether they have any other options, including an appeal. At one point during the trial, Judge James Flannery chastized Yamaha for using a private court reporter to provide transcripts to the company’s witnesses, despite a “separation of witnesses order” designed to prevent witnesses’ testimony from being affected by other witnesses’ statements, Roberts said.

Lax Oversight for PIs and Security Guards In Ohio

Lax oversight of security guards by Ohio agency in charge?

Some in industry want more regulation

• By: Hagit Limor
• Produced by Phil Drechsler

CINCINNATI -

You see them at the malls, at your bank, most likely at your office. They’re security guards, there to watch over you. But who’s watching over them?

Some longtime security industry professionals say the state of Ohio has put off reforms for 20 years, even though some within the business itself are calling for greater regulation. While police officers undergo constant monitoring, security guards undergo background criminal checks only when they’re first hired by a security guard company. If they commit crimes after their hire, their company has no way of knowing unless it conducts its own checks. The state doesn’t require it to do so. “I’ve had employees with our company that had been with us for 40 years and the way the law is now, they get one background check,” said Gregg Hollenbaugh who owns Cal Crim Inc., a local security guard company.

          You wouldn’t expect a business owner to ask for greater regulation, but Hollenbaugh says it would keep people and businesses safer. An I-Team check found hundreds of cases of security guards in Ohio violating regulations, rules and laws. We found stories nationwide about security guards arrested for burglary, rape, assault and other crimes. Here in the Tri-State, police arrested Charles Conard, a security guard at Deveroes clothing store for selling drugs outside the store at the corner of McMillan and Gilbert. Police say he was packing his gun and a security guard badge during the sales.

         Hollenbaugh says not only does the state not require additional criminal checks after hire, allowing guards who commit crimes to skate under the radar, but it doesn’t require training of any guards unless they’re armed. Many are not, at least not officially. "I feel that the public has a misconception when they see a guard because they think that if you got somebody in uniform that they have some training and they know what they’re doing,” said Hollenbaugh. He says that’s not necessarily true and that can put the public in danger. Mike Brown Senior, a former Lincoln Heights police officer for 15 years, agrees. He now serves as a guard at a public library, working for Cal Crim. He says training is imperative for guards to know how to react to any situation. “I’m looking out for my safety and the company’s and the people out here, because you never know what might happen.”

       “You’re putting somebody out there that might not have any idea of what he’s supposed to be doing or what the laws are," said Hollenbaugh. He says that could put customers in danger and that’s why he’s been fighting for tougher regulation since 1991. He says every state department that’s been in charge of the security business has put off all suggestions to improve it. “For the life of me, I do not understand why they have dragged their feet so long. 'Why the state chooses not to do anything is beyond me.'” The Ohio agency currently in charge of oversight for security guards is Homeland Security, a division of the Department of Public Safety, or ODPS. We asked for an interview with its new director, but only received a statement from public information officer Lindsey Bohrer, saying: “We cannot speak on behalf of the previous administration as to why or why not things were done. We acknowledge the need to tighten security.”

       The department is backing legislation as part of the upcoming budget bill that would run all registered guards’ names through a criminal database constantly. Hollenbaugh says he’s not holding his breath, given that the budget bill will see serious cuts before it passes. He says Cal Crim runs its own background checks of its employees more often than the state requires, but without the force of law, he believes some of his competitors do not do the same. “If you do not have regulations somewhat, then people are going to take shortcuts,” said Hollenbaugh. While some businesses hire security guards through a service like Cal Crim, many hire guards directly. Any regulation the state puts in place would bypass these direct hires, over whom the state has no oversight. They do not have to register, get any training or even one background check.

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GPS tracking of car without warrant contested

GPS tracking of car without warrant contested

Friday, January 21, 2011  12:11 PM

By John Futty

The Columbus Dispatch

Robbery defendants Montie E. Sullivan, 19, top, and David L. White, 23

Two men accused in a string of home-invasion robberies in Franklin County last year are trying to get the evidence thrown out because deputy sheriffs tracked them by placing a GPS device on their car without a warrant.

Ohio law on the issue is unclear, but recent court rulings don't bode well for the defendants, Montie E. Sullivan and David L. White. An Ohio appeals court has ruled that people driving on a public road should not expect privacy.

A judge in Fairfield County, where the last of the home invasions occurred, ruled in July that investigators didn't need a warrant to attach the GPS device to the car. The two men pleaded no contest in that case, and each was convicted and sentenced to prison. They are appealing the convictions, based largely on the GPS issue.

Sullivan and White are waging a similar legal battle in Franklin County, where they are charged in six home invasions and where the device was placed on the car.

Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Michael J. Holbrook heard oral arguments last week on the defense motion to suppress evidence. The judge asked attorneys on both sides to submit additional briefs by the end of the month. Trial dates for Sullivan, 19, and White, 23, are tentatively set in May.

Fairfield County Prosecutor David Landefeld said he hopes the judge in Franklin County follows the same reasoning as the Fairfield County judge. "The Franklin County judge is not bound by a decision by a common pleas judge in another county," Landefeld noted.

The highest courts in New York, Oregon and Washington have ruled that warrants are required when law officers want to track someone with GPS technology, but the Ohio Supreme Court hasn't considered the issue.

The most-recent appeals-court ruling in Ohio found that warrants aren't necessary. In November, the 12th District Court of Appeals upheld a lower-court decision that the Butler County sheriff's office didn't violate the constitutional rights of a suspected drug dealer whose movements were tracked with a GPS device placed on his van without a warrant.

"Law enforcement need not obtain a warrant to observe where a driver chooses to drive on public roads, nor do they need to obtain a warrant to observe via a GPS device where a driver chooses to drive," wrote Judge Robert E. Hendrickson.

That sentence also summarizes the position of the Fairfield County prosecutor in the case of Sullivan and White.

"If the sheriff's office had sufficient manpower, it could follow a car 24/7 without a warrant," Landefeld said. "In essence, you're doing with a GPS device what you could do with officers if not for manpower issues."

Joseph E. Scott, Sullivan's attorney in the Franklin County case, said the satellite-based tracking of his client for nine days without a warrant violated his Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable searches.

"Certainly, a person expects when they travel on public roadways that portions of their route might be observed by others," he wrote in his motion to suppress. "However, a reasonable person does not contemplate a comprehensive mapping of the totality of their movements, including the location of each stop and the duration of the trip, will be monitored and recorded around the clock for a period of nine days."

A Franklin County deputy placed the device on a car registered to Sullivan in a public parking lot on Jan. 14, 2010, after Sullivan and White were linked by investigators to a string of home invasions. The car's movements were monitored until an officer detected suspicious activity in the area of a Fairfield County residence on Jan. 23.

Within minutes, a resident reported a home invasion on Bickel Church Road. By the time Fairfield County deputies arrived, two gunmen had fled after firing through a side door and killing a Labrador retriever inside.

The GPS was used to track Sullivan and White to an apartment on the East Side of Columbus, where they were arrested.

Aaron Conrad, White's Fairfield County attorney, said deputies easily could have obtained a warrant for the GPS device. "All you need is probable cause," he said. "It's not a high burden. They are not hard to get. I don't know why they didn't."

The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio agrees that use of GPS to track citizens without a warrant is a violation of the Fourth Amendment, said James Hardiman, the organization's legal director.

"The issue ultimately is going to have to be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court," he said. "It's a very slippery slope we're on. As we give up more and more of our rights, we take giant steps backward."

PO-PI Pleads Guilty to a Felony

The following is another example of an unlicensed individual operating as an unlicensed PI only in this case he's also a police officer. 

 

Akron police lose 20-year veteran after he pleads guilty to felony charge involving database

By Phil Trexler Beacon Journal staff writerPublished on Wednesday, Dec 22, 2010 

An Akron police officer, whose career started with an explosive high-speed crash, has ended with a few illegal strokes of a computer. Sgt. Gary Webb, a 20-year veteran of the Akron police force, has pleaded guilty to a felony charge that he improperly used a law enforcement database to investigate parents regarding residency requirements for Copley-Fairlawn schools.

He performed the work off-duty as a contracted private investigator for the suburban district.

Webb, 47, resigned from the department Friday in anticipation of his appearance in Summit County Common Pleas Court.

On Monday, Webb pleaded guilty to a fifth-degree felony and was given six months of probation by Judge Patricia A. Cosgrove.

His attorney and the department's union chief said the state law that forced Webb's departure, claimed the career of a good police officer who made an unwitting mistake. ''I don't think he had any intention of violating the law and it's a shame because the city of Akron is losing an exemplary officer,'' defense attorney Brian Pierce.

Police Chief Craig Gilbride said Tuesday that an investigation determined Webb was conducting private investigations for Copley schools. The work required him to determine whether some families lived in the district.

On occasion, that private work led to the sergeant's use of LEADS, a state law enforcement database, to check license plates of families claiming to reside in the Copley-Fairlawn district. He used department computers to conduct the work, the investigation showed.

Ohio law prohibits the use of the LEADS system for anything other than law enforcement purposes.

''It's sad,'' Gilbride said, ''but it's the law and we continue to police our own.''

Paul Hlynsky condemned the internal investigation that led to Webb's criminal charges, a conviction that leaves him with a felony record that cannot be expunged for three years. With the conviction, he is banned from carrying a firearm.

Webb is vested in the state pension system, but he did not serve the required 25 years for a full payment.

''I think the law that was created is overly harsh and provides no latitude for a reduction to a misdemeanor. It's a classic case of creating a bad law,'' Hlynsky said.

Webb joined the department in February 1990 and was the partner of patrolman Russ Long. The two officers in 1991 were involved in a high-speed chase that ended in a violent crash. Long was left paralyzed. Webb also was injured but eventually returned to the department. Long's name is attached to the department's annual ''Officer of the Year'' award given since 1996.

Hlynsky said the computer violation investigation allowed Webb to fall victim to a ''personal vendetta'' waged by ''a few'' higher-ranking officers in the department. He declined to name the officers, but he said the entire matter should have been conducted internally without felony charges being brought.

''I hope these people that did this to Gary examine themselves because what goes around, comes around,'' Hlynsky said. ''This is nothing but vengeance against a guy that didn't deserve it.''

Brian Poe, superintendent of Copley-Fairlawn schools, said Webb began working as a contractor with the district in September 2008. His work ended in February 2010, and he had been paid $3,790 for 95 hours of investigative work.

Residency violations have been an on-going problem in the Copley district. In several instances, families have been found living outside the district and as a result, parents have been sued for back tuition payments.

Poe could not say if Webb's work revealed any residency violators, but he said the district does not condone illegal activities while conducting the work.

Akron police conducted an internal investigation. The State Highway Patrol conducted a criminal investigation. The Ohio Attorney General's Office handled the prosecution.

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Same Robber Different Mask

Same Robber Different Mask           

The Ohio Association of Security & Investigative Services was founded in 1947 and incorporated in 1954 as the Ohio Association of Private Detective Agencies, Inc., a not for profit Ohio corporation. The later name change came about as security companies applied for membership and representation in the organization.

Initially, those entities were licensed by the Ohio Department of Commerce under a 1792 enacted piece of legislation that became Ohio Revised Code No. 4749.  As with any licensing entity, their assigned task was to collect fees and regulate the industry.  They exceeded their expectations in the collection of fees but poorly failed at the regulation of the industry. They were so good at collecting fees that the industry overpaid the State of Ohio $1.4 million dollars in licensing fees. Because of this overpayment the industry was promised that licensing fees would never be raised.

            Three problems arose with Commerce from this overpayment issue. First, when asked by the industry to increase its regulation enforcement, the industry was told that there was a hiring freeze and they could not add additional personnel, even though there was a surplus. Secondly, when public records requests were forwarded to Commerce in an effort to view the accounting of the licensing fees and this surplus, it was repeatedly denied. And last but not least, when the Taft Administration had a budget shortfall, it “stole” $400,000 from the industry’s surplus and covertly moved it into the State’s General Fund. 

            Because of the industries frustration with the Department of Commerce, legislative action was taken to move the licensing and regulation of our industry to the Department of Public Safety, Division of Homeland Security.  This was a move that was forced upon Public Safety, who did not want to undertake the responsibility.  Part of that legislation included wording for a Governor’s advisory commission of industry professionals to advise those in Public Safety of the difficulties of operating a successful business in Ohio with outdated rules and regulations.  The commission was legislatively directed to be up and running in a year’s period.  Two years after the legislation passed, the legislation establishing the Advisory Commission was still not operational. It was not until the Chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee held up Public Safety legislation and directed the then Director of Public Safety explain to the committee why the commission had not yet been seated. In order to forward Public Safety’s legislation, the then sitting director relented and proceeded with the formation of said commission.

            It should be pointed out that at the time of the movement of the PI/ Security industry from Commerce to Public Safety, there remained $1,000,000 in what was then called the rotary funds. Public Safety reduced that by billing the industry $800,000 as the cost of the move from Commerce to Public Safety. Of note: the same 9 person panel, who issued licensed and investigated complaints, remained the same.

                       

As if the $800,000 movement fee was not enough, our industry was told that the computer system used for licensing our industry was a proprietary system that could not be transferred from Commerce to Public Safety so the industry was requested to cough up $395,000 for a new computer system. The system was acquired through a no-bid contract by the then Director of Public Safety through, a Tom Noe associate, and has never lived up to the bill of goods the industry was sold.  Since the remaining $200,000 in the rotary fund was not enough to cover the computer’s acquisition, the industry’s license holders agreed to a $25 yearly increase in fees.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Ohio politics, Tom Noe, a lobbyist at the time of his demise, is currently serving time for bilking the State of Ohio out of millions of dollars. The deposed Governor of the State at that time pleaded guilty to lesser ethics violations.  

   All of the above was explained to the then incoming governor’s election team prior to taking office.  The industry was advised that the above abuse would be addressed by his administration.  We were later reassured by his legislative person that the revision of ORC 4749 was on his list of matters to be addressed.  Needless to say, that individual is no longer holds a staff position with the State and our industry continues to be abused on a daily bases. In fact, one of the members of the Commission recently made the public statement that, “We’re still being robbed by the same robber; he’s just wearing a different mask”.

            In regards to the abuse, the Governor’s first appointment to the Director of Public Safety, according to the State Inspector General, “ignored fraud and potential crimes for more than a year and failed to halt fraudulent activity.”  He was dismissed for said conduct.

            The Governor’s second appointment to Director of Public Safety fared no better, as she was given a vote of no confidence by the State Legislature, for lying to the State Inspector General. She was therefore not allowed to continue her appointment to said office. Interestingly though that during her reign as Director, one of her underlings, supposedly with the help of the department’s legal counsel, re-wrote ORC 4749, the legislation that governs the PI/ Security Industry.   It remains out there but is so self-serving and unconstitutional that it hopefully not see the light of day.

            Again, for those who are unfamiliar, the attorneys mentioned above come from the same staff of Public Safety that were either dismissed and/or convicted of lying to the Inspector General’s Office, attempting to set up the Inspector General by releasing confidential material, or illegally hacking into employee’s emails to search for alleged whistle blowers. Also of interest is the fact that a member of OASIS was approached by a lobbyist, who was related to the then Director of Public Safety, about representing them in fighting this purposed piece of trash the Department had forward as a revision to ORC 4749. A little lack of ethics, I believe, but then again, standard operating procedure for the State of Ohio.