2 OFFICERS RESIGN, 1 TERMINATED AS INVESTIGATION CONCLUDES
ALL VIOLATED MORAL DUTY & DEPARTMENT POLICIES

Three Clearwater Police Officers – one of them a Sergeant – lost their jobs as the result of situations in which they engaged in unprofessional conduct while on duty, Chief Sid Klein announced today, while detailing the circumstances and conclusions of a lengthy internal affairs investigation.

A long-time Police Sergeant was terminated and two Patrol Officers – each a five-year veteran of the Clearwater Police Department – resigned Thursday after an Executive Review Board comprised of the Police Department's Command Staff found the three violated department Policies and Procedures.

The Board found the two Patrol Officers engaged in sexual conduct with a civilian woman while they were on duty. The Sergeant – although he did not engage in sexual conduct – was found to have crossed the boundaries of acceptable professional behavior, and to have failed in his supervisory responsibilities. He declined to resign and was terminated, effective May 21.

All three Police Department employees deny the substance of the woman's allegations.

Thursday evening's resignations and termination were the result of activity that began in the spring of 2000, and continued intermittently for several months. Although the female complainant told investigators she was never forced into having sex with the two Patrol Officers, she said she felt "intimidated" by the uniformed officers' "authority and power." Indeed, she told investigators that the men never said if she didn't have sex with them, something untoward could happen. But she said she was cowed by the uniforms and the authority of the profession.

Officer James E. Mehr, Jr. and Officer Anthony J. Pearn - who were on paid Administrative Leave - resigned in lieu of being terminated late Thursday. Sergeant James M. Heinz declined to resign and he was subsequently terminated. (Please see attached career abstract for each officer).

The Clearwater Police Department was made aware of the events on October 3, 2001, when the Florida Department of Law Enforcement delivered a case file to the Office of the Chief containing concerns of possible improper on-duty and off-duty conduct by Clearwater Police Officers. The woman had contacted the FDLE and told that agency of her claims about Clearwater Police Officers. The Clearwater Police Department will not discuss the FDLE's investigation.

The woman will not be identified by the Clearwater Police Department since she may be the victim of a sexual crime (Florida Statutes 794.024).

Chief Klein ordered a preliminary investigation into the claims, and investigators with the Clearwater Police Department's Office of Professional Standards (internal affairs) met with the complainant on October 8.

Subsequent to that interview - because some of the complainant's statements and other information raised the specter of possible criminal actions on the part of the Clearwater Police Officers - Chief Klein asked FDLE Regional Director Jim Sewell to reopen the FDLE investigation into the circumstances surrounding these events. (The FDLE concluded its criminal investigation on May 2, 2002, without bringing charges against the Clearwater officers – see attached document).

Additionally, Chief Klein directed the Office of Professional Standards to proceed with an Administrative Investigation into the allegations of sexual misconduct. That internal affairs investigation led to today's actions. According to the Office of Professional Standards:

The now 40-year-old woman (07-23-61) told investigators that on April 14, 2000 – on a night she was emotionally upset – Officers Mehr and Pearn were dispatched to her Clearwater Beach home to check on her well-being after a friend of hers called police to express his concern.

According to the woman, the two uniformed officers arrived and asked about her emotional state. And, as she had in the past, she told investigators, she told the officers that she just needed to take her medication and she would be OK.

She asked the officers – she said they arrived around midnight - to sit with her for a while, and one of the officers took a chair. She said he then pulled her onto his lap.

The woman told investigators she was dressed in a knee-length gown and that she told one of the officers she may feel better were he to brush her hair, which he did. Minutes later, she said, she was led into her bedroom where the officers disrobed and they had sex with her for about a half-hour. Within an hour of their arrival, the officers dressed and left.

Some time later in the pre-dawn hours, the two officers returned and wakened her – she said she was groggy from the medication - by knocking on the door. She said they said they returned "To check on you." The woman told investigators she told the two officers she was OK, but they came in and "basically the same thing happened again."

The woman told investigators the sexual encounter "wasn't something I wanted to be going on," but that neither officer used physical force to make her submit. She was, however, concerned that the officers could complicate her life were she to rebuff their advances. Ultimately - she remembers it being in less than an hour - the officers left a second time.

She said they returned to her home sometime after dawn, and as one officer took a shower, she had sex with the other.

"In my heart I just felt they knew that I was weak and they were taking advantage of it," she told the Office of Professional Standards. "And all the other police officers that have come to my house have protected me and been kind and never threatened me or done anything inappropriate."

The officers left, she said, after the third encounter of the morning.

During her interviews with the Clearwater Police Department's Office of Professional Standards, the woman described a tattoo on the shoulder of one officer and the distinctive underwear of the other.

In subsequent interviews with investigators, both officers denied ever undressing in the woman's presence, but acknowledged her accurate description of the tattoo and the underwear.

She also told investigators she never had contact with the officers elsewhere, nor did she ever initiate contact with them.

But over a period of subsequent months, one of the officers, Officer Mehr, would occasionally stop by her home unannounced, usually between midnight and 3 a.m., ostensibly, she said, to check on her welfare. On several occasions, she said, "something of the sexual nature happened," but she wasn't clear on too many details. She believes these visits led to sexual encounters "two or three times."

She also told investigators that Officer Mehr showed up at her home on more than one occasion in civilian clothes, and on at least two of those occasions, he wanted her to meet others he claimed he had in his company. On these occasions, the woman told Officer Mehr to leave, and eventually he would.

"As long as they weren't uniform I knew they couldn't do anything to me," she told investigators. "I knew they … could call other police, but I wasn't afraid of the other police."

On one night in the summer of 2000, she said, her adult brother was staying at her house and saw a police officer who she later identified as Officer Mehr, stop by the house unannounced and unsummoned. She said she and Officer Mehr had sexual relations that night.

The woman also told investigators that although she never had a sexual encounter with the Sergeant, she said he did grope her on at least two occasions: once, on March 30, 2000, when he had helped her into her home when she was intoxicated, and she realized he was trying to take off her dress and was touching her inappropriately; and a second instance, on October 2, 2000, when the Sergeant – who had responded to a report of a domestic dispute at her house – fondled her.

It was several hours after this last incident, she told investigators, that she called the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

The woman told Clearwater Police Office of Professional Standards investigators that she was reluctant to call Clearwater Police to make the complaint because she thought word of her actions might get back to the officers in question, and her freedom could be compromised.

But, she noted: "I've had nothing but – in every city I ever lived in – have had nothing but positive encounters with police officers … They've gone out of their way to be kind and caring because most of the time when they've been called to my house it's because I'm upset about something."

She also noted that she is comfortable in her relationship with – and the professionalism of – the Clearwater Police Department's Office of Professional Standards, and that her concerns were given fair weight by investigators.

The Clearwater Police Department's Office of Professional Standards – a unit of the Office of the Chief – conducted a lengthy, detailed and extensive investigation into the claims and allegations of a woman who alleged she'd had sexual relations with two Clearwater Police Officers while they were on duty. She also said a Police Sergeant had behaved inappropriately on two occasions.

Investigators interviewed those involved as well as neighbors and others who were present at various times during various events.

The officers in question deny all allegations of professional impropriety.

Despite an absence of forensic evidence or admissions by the accused, the preponderance of anecdotal evidence, circumstances, verifiable situations (via Police Department records), witnesses' statements and those of the Officers themselves led the Executive Review Board to SUSTAIN a number of the allegations, specifically:

Officer James Mehr:
The allegation of On/Off- Duty Conduct – Morale/Efficiency – Image/Public Confidence (213.49) was sustained; the allegation of Felonies (213.77) (reference Florida State Statute 794.011 (4) (g) and 794.011 (9)) was sustained; the allegation of Neglect of Duty (212.45) was sustained, and Officer Mehr was recommended for Termination.

Officer Anthony Pearn:
The allegation of On/Off- Duty Conduct – Morale/Efficiency – Image/Public Confidence (213.49) was sustained; the allegation of Felonies (213.77) (reference Florida State Statute 794.011 (4) (g) and 794.011 (9)) was sustained, and Officer Pearn was recommended for Termination.

Sergeant James Heinz:
The allegation of On/Off- Duty Conduct – Morale/Efficiency – Image/Public Confidence (213.49) was sustained, and Sergeant Heinz was recommended for Termination; the allegation of Neglect of Duty (212.45) was sustained, the allegation of Supervision (212.07) was sustained, and Sergeant Heinz was recommended for Reduction in Rank; a second allegation of On/Off- Duty Conduct – Morale/Efficiency – Image/Public Confidence (213.49) was ruled No Conclusion.

The Executive Review Board found that the officers in question - Officer James Mehr, Officer Anthony Pearn and Sergeant James Heinz - violated department policies, and recommended discipline in accordance with department and City of Clearwater guidelines.

Officers Pearn and Mehr resigned Thursday evening in lieu of being Terminated. Sergeant Heinz declined to resign, and the Termination process – expected to conclude Tuesday, May 21 – was implemented.

This is the extent of information available at this time regarding this internal affairs case. For additional details, please contact Public Information Officer Wayne Shelor at (727)-562-4333.

SID KLEIN
Chief of Police