A dozen Ohio Highway Patrol officers, including 11 of 40 at the patrol's Canton post, were fired Monday, resulting in a significant loss of manpower that could benefit drunken drivers and speeding motorists.

Three sergeants and eight troopers at the post along with a Wooster-based trooper were dismissed, after investigations found that they cheated on a written alcohol detection device certification test or knew about the cheating and failed to stop it. The terminations come more than a week after Jackson Township Patrolman Todd Macaluso was fired by the township for receiving a "cheat sheet."

Ohio Highway Patrol spokesman Lt. Tony Bradshaw said it is the first time in the patrol's 75-year history that a dozen of its officers were terminated at once. He said they can appeal the dismissals to an arbitrator.

"It caught everybody off guard," said the Jackson Township post's commander Lt. Eric Sheppard, who was training in another state when the cheating occurred. "We've been tasked with a lot more because we're down from eight sergeants down to five."

The fired troopers were placed on paid leave in late August. Since then, posts in Medina and Wayne counties and with the patrol's office in Massillon have provided troopers to help the post respond to crashes in Stark and Summit counties. Sheriff's deputies and other local police departments have been asked to handle some accidents.

Despite the assistance, Sheppard said his remaining troopers now spend nearly all of their shifts responding to traffic accidents and motorists' calls. The post commander said he has had to reduce DUI checkpoints. His officers no longer conduct law-enforcement operations with local police in crime-ridden neighborhoods. Troopers have far less time to deter speeding.

Bradshaw said troopers will be transferred to Stark County from other posts, but it's not clear when.

EFFECT ON CASES

In Canton Municipal Court, prosecutors have had to change charges from DUI to reckless operation in at least three cases involving the fired troopers, said Canton City Prosecutor Frank Forchione. He said a couple of defendants likely got lighter sentences. With the troopers' certifications in doubt, the convictions of up to 70 defendants with cases in Canton Municipal Court could be overturned.

Meanwhile, the suspended officers underwent pre-disciplinary hearings Aug. 29. Ohio Director of Public Safety Henry Guzman on Monday upheld recommendations to fire the dozen patrol officers and demote and transfer two sergeants.

The fired troopers based at the post are Anthony Maroon, Sharon Papineau, William Hoberg, David Blubaugh, Todd Bradic, Shawn Milburn, Justin Smith and Tara Worner, the patrol said. The fired sergeants at the post are Pamela Gowen, William Bower and Mark McDonald. The terminated trooper in Wooster was Daniel Laubacher. Sgt. Terry Helton in Columbus and Sgt. John Hromiak at the Wooster post were demoted to troopers and transferred.

Attempts to reach the troopers' union Tuesday evening were unsuccessful.

CAUGHT

Ohio's Inspector General launched an investigation after an inspector for the Ohio Bureau of Alcohol and Drug Testing reported that several troopers had cheated on a test he was proctoring at the Canton post in April. Troopers have to take a 50-question multiple-choice test annually to demonstrate they can properly operate devices that measure alcohol content in a motorist's breath. About 99 percent of test takers pass.

The inspector said he caught Trooper Blubaugh looking at a cheat sheet, and other troopers were found to have the same answer sheet.

Released in July, the inspector general's report said Maroon admitted to making a copy of the answer sheet while taking the exam in 2007 when the proctor left the testing room. He then distributed copies of it to other troopers during the next 13 months. Among 22,000 answer sheets filled out in a two-year period, only six match the cheat sheet. All those tests were taken at the Canton post, which is in Jackson Township.

Bradic, Milburn, Bower, Laubacher, Gowen, Hoberg, Helton and Papineau admitted receiving copies of the answers from Maroon, the report said. Laubacher said he got the answers over the phone from Maroon and wrote them on an index card but never looked at the card during his test in Ashland. Worner denied cheating, but her answers in an October test match Maroon's answers, the report said. Smith's answers matched Maroon's in a March 2007 exam.

There's no evidence Gowen, Bower, McDonald, Helton and Hromiak used the cheat sheet. Investigators found that Bradic, Milburn, Worner and Hoberg definitely did.

Maroon said he offered the answers to Sgt. McDonald, but McDonald declined, the report said. Ultimately, Maroon gave out copies of his answer sheet to at least 10 officers and placed them on a pile in the testing room, the report said. Maroon's supervisor, Gowen, along with Sgt. Helton and Sgt. Hromiak saw Maroon pass out the sheets, but did nothing in response. One trooper told investigators that when he told Gowen he didn't have time to study for the test, she told him to see Maroon, the report said.

In late June, Gowen was commended for jumping out of her cruiser onto the path of traffic of Interstate 77 and then directing the vehicles to stop to prevent them from colliding with an out-of-control truck.

Sheppard said the troopers that remain will seek to move on and focus on serving the public.
From The Canton Repository, September 10