07-31-2008, 05:30 AM
Inquiry: LPD Officer Neglected His Duty
By Jeremy Maready
The Ledger
Published: Wednesday, July 30, 2008 at 12:01 a.m.
Last Modified: Thursday, July 31, 2008 at 12:40 a.m.
LAKELAND | A six-month internal investigation into a rumored sexual tryst between two Lakeland Police Department employees was inconclusive, a 3-inch-thick report has concluded.
The inquiry ended last week with an official reprimand of Lt. Joe Henson for neglect of duty when he left his post to rest in the department's meditation room to "fight off" a migraine headache, although he later turned in a sick leave slip for the time he was away from his post.
A second charge of violating the department's substance abuse policy, for taking his wife's prescription migraine medication Imitrex, was dismissed because it was not a narcotic, but was left in Henson's permanent file.
Henson's files show that he suffered a head injury in the line of duty in the late 1970s and chronic migraines have persisted since. He now has received a prescription for the medication.
The investigation's final report details cell phone records, time slips, surveillance video clips with time stamps, electronic key access records, and transcripts of interviews from seven department employees.
The case, which was fueled by Internet gossip on a popular police forum, didn't officially open as an internal investigation until mid-January and concluded April 29, officials said.
Review by senior staff and the scheduling of a pre-disciplinary conference prolonged the case's outcome until last week, Police Chief Roger Boatner said.
Henson, a 29-year veteran of the department and husband of Assistant Chief Debra Henson, approached LPD's internal investigations unit Dec. 18 and asked to be cleared of rumors circulating around the office and in online forums, particularly on the Web site LEOAffairs.com.
Henson, who offered to take a polygraph for investigators to prove his account, now oversees the communications department at LPD.
The rumor: That an LPD detective walked in on Henson and an unidentified female employee having sex inside the department's meditation room.
He denies the accusations in the rumor and contends he is still open to taking the test, Henson said. "There's nothing I have to hide."
Henson, who oversaw the Delta Squad of the patrol division at the time, told investigators that while he was lying behind the door inside the meditation room, about the size of a large walk-in closet with two high-back red leather chairs and a small table, another person tried to open the door, but quickly left.
Henson said he yelled out, "Give me a minute. Give me a minute. I'm behind the door," according to transcripts. But by the time Henson put his jacket and shoes back on, the person was gone, and all he heard was a door to the detective's unit shut.
Investigators later determined it was Detective David Anderson, a 24-year veteran of the agency and homicide detective, who briefly opened the door to the room, anywhere between 8 and 18 inches wide, and then left, reports said.
Anderson told investigators he saw a silhouette quickly move from a corner and heard a female voice say, "Whoops," or "Oops," and Henson's voice coming from behind the door saying "Give us a minute. Give us a minute," trying to push the door shut.
"It was so quick. It was so quick! It was very, very quick," Anderson told investigators on the transcript interview. "I wish I'd never opened that door. I wish I'd never opened that dadgum door."
"When you boil this down, it comes down to Detective Anderson and myself," Henson said of the case.
And based on what Anderson told investigators, Henson doesn't think that it warranted an official investigation.
Even if there was a woman in the room, which Henson denies, that alone doesn't constitute a violation of department policy, he said.
"What I was hoping he would do is just give me a minute and we would have had this all cleared up," Henson said. "We don't have naked people. We don't have sounds. Unfortunately, this was something that turned ugly."
While investigating the rumors, which used the names of three different female employees, investigators learned that only one female employee was on duty that day - Christina Kachadurian, an administrative assistant in the communications department and a friend of Henson's.
Throughout the investigation, information received by internal detectives from Anderson, Henson and Kachadurian didn't match up - leaving investigators stumped in the he-said, she-said, he-said case.
Investigators interviewed Kachadurian three times between January and February because her sworn testimony in the investigation became contradictory, particularly about phone calls she had with Henson, the time her shift ended and when she left for the day.
But what the investigative reports don't discuss is what evidence was collected in the meditation room.
A copy of a Dec. 22 report said a crime scene technician was contacted in reference to an Internal Affairs investigation and was told to process the room for the presence of body fluids.
The report said the room was examined for the presence of fluids using a ultraviolet light, and there was a positive reaction on the floor to the left side of the chair and on the wall on the right side of the chair.
Those findings were never processed by lab technicians for DNA matches, Boatner said.
Because the room, which is frequently used by officers, can be accessed by any employee within LPD and because the investigation never rose to the level of a criminal investigation, the samples were never processed, Boatner said.
Following the investigation, Boatner is tightening up the department's policy on the notification of supervisors when someone takes sick time. He also plans to have discussions with employees regarding prescription medication use and possibly incorporating that into LPD's official policy, he said.
[ Jeremy Maready can be reached jeremy.maready@theledger.com. or 863-802-7592. ]
By Jeremy Maready
The Ledger
Published: Wednesday, July 30, 2008 at 12:01 a.m.
Last Modified: Thursday, July 31, 2008 at 12:40 a.m.
LAKELAND | A six-month internal investigation into a rumored sexual tryst between two Lakeland Police Department employees was inconclusive, a 3-inch-thick report has concluded.
The inquiry ended last week with an official reprimand of Lt. Joe Henson for neglect of duty when he left his post to rest in the department's meditation room to "fight off" a migraine headache, although he later turned in a sick leave slip for the time he was away from his post.
A second charge of violating the department's substance abuse policy, for taking his wife's prescription migraine medication Imitrex, was dismissed because it was not a narcotic, but was left in Henson's permanent file.
Henson's files show that he suffered a head injury in the line of duty in the late 1970s and chronic migraines have persisted since. He now has received a prescription for the medication.
The investigation's final report details cell phone records, time slips, surveillance video clips with time stamps, electronic key access records, and transcripts of interviews from seven department employees.
The case, which was fueled by Internet gossip on a popular police forum, didn't officially open as an internal investigation until mid-January and concluded April 29, officials said.
Review by senior staff and the scheduling of a pre-disciplinary conference prolonged the case's outcome until last week, Police Chief Roger Boatner said.
Henson, a 29-year veteran of the department and husband of Assistant Chief Debra Henson, approached LPD's internal investigations unit Dec. 18 and asked to be cleared of rumors circulating around the office and in online forums, particularly on the Web site LEOAffairs.com.
Henson, who offered to take a polygraph for investigators to prove his account, now oversees the communications department at LPD.
The rumor: That an LPD detective walked in on Henson and an unidentified female employee having sex inside the department's meditation room.
He denies the accusations in the rumor and contends he is still open to taking the test, Henson said. "There's nothing I have to hide."
Henson, who oversaw the Delta Squad of the patrol division at the time, told investigators that while he was lying behind the door inside the meditation room, about the size of a large walk-in closet with two high-back red leather chairs and a small table, another person tried to open the door, but quickly left.
Henson said he yelled out, "Give me a minute. Give me a minute. I'm behind the door," according to transcripts. But by the time Henson put his jacket and shoes back on, the person was gone, and all he heard was a door to the detective's unit shut.
Investigators later determined it was Detective David Anderson, a 24-year veteran of the agency and homicide detective, who briefly opened the door to the room, anywhere between 8 and 18 inches wide, and then left, reports said.
Anderson told investigators he saw a silhouette quickly move from a corner and heard a female voice say, "Whoops," or "Oops," and Henson's voice coming from behind the door saying "Give us a minute. Give us a minute," trying to push the door shut.
"It was so quick. It was so quick! It was very, very quick," Anderson told investigators on the transcript interview. "I wish I'd never opened that door. I wish I'd never opened that dadgum door."
"When you boil this down, it comes down to Detective Anderson and myself," Henson said of the case.
And based on what Anderson told investigators, Henson doesn't think that it warranted an official investigation.
Even if there was a woman in the room, which Henson denies, that alone doesn't constitute a violation of department policy, he said.
"What I was hoping he would do is just give me a minute and we would have had this all cleared up," Henson said. "We don't have naked people. We don't have sounds. Unfortunately, this was something that turned ugly."
While investigating the rumors, which used the names of three different female employees, investigators learned that only one female employee was on duty that day - Christina Kachadurian, an administrative assistant in the communications department and a friend of Henson's.
Throughout the investigation, information received by internal detectives from Anderson, Henson and Kachadurian didn't match up - leaving investigators stumped in the he-said, she-said, he-said case.
Investigators interviewed Kachadurian three times between January and February because her sworn testimony in the investigation became contradictory, particularly about phone calls she had with Henson, the time her shift ended and when she left for the day.
But what the investigative reports don't discuss is what evidence was collected in the meditation room.
A copy of a Dec. 22 report said a crime scene technician was contacted in reference to an Internal Affairs investigation and was told to process the room for the presence of body fluids.
The report said the room was examined for the presence of fluids using a ultraviolet light, and there was a positive reaction on the floor to the left side of the chair and on the wall on the right side of the chair.
Those findings were never processed by lab technicians for DNA matches, Boatner said.
Because the room, which is frequently used by officers, can be accessed by any employee within LPD and because the investigation never rose to the level of a criminal investigation, the samples were never processed, Boatner said.
Following the investigation, Boatner is tightening up the department's policy on the notification of supervisors when someone takes sick time. He also plans to have discussions with employees regarding prescription medication use and possibly incorporating that into LPD's official policy, he said.
[ Jeremy Maready can be reached jeremy.maready@theledger.com. or 863-802-7592. ]