Rivera insists letter probe is above board
Brad Dicken | The Chronicle-Telegram
LORAIN — Police Chief Cel Rivera insisted Thursday that an investigation into a former Lorain police officer suspected of writing highly critical letters about the chief and his officers is above board.
In a letter to The Chronicle-Telegram, Rivera wrote that his department “has exercised extreme care to avoid any appearance of compromise or conflict of interest.”
Rivera said he asked the FBI to investigate allegations in the letters — which have been mailed to police, local officials and reporters for years — that accused him and his officers of criminal activity and then covering up those crimes.
FBI Special Agent Scott Wilson said earlier this week the Bureau had cleared Rivera of the alleged improprieties he asked them to look at, but he also insisted that the FBI is only assisting Lorain police with their investigation. Wilson said the crimes being investigated don’t appear to be violations of federal law.
Michael Peterson, the attorney for Joseph Montelon, an ex-Lorain cop whose Wickliffe home was raided Aug. 28, said the FBI also told him it wasn’t leading the investigation.
When Montelon’s home was raided, Lorain police officers Roger Watkins and A.J. Matheson, an FBI agent and Lorain County sheriff’s Capt. Richard Resendez took computers, documents, guns and other items.
Resendez, a former Lorain officer himself, said Lorain police took custody of the evidence seized during the search.
Rivera wrote Thursday that his officers went on the raid to provide “operational assistance” because the “primary investigators were out of state, or otherwise unavailable.”
“The FBI and Wickliffe Police Department were at the scene as observers,” Rivera wrote.
Montelon, who resigned from the force in 1992 and is a convicted sex offender, has not been charged in the case and invoked the Fifth Amendment when asked if he was responsible for the letters.
Montelon did say he has been leaking internal police documents to various people, including Lorain City Councilwoman Anne Molnar, D-At large, for years.
Molnar and Councilman Mitch Fallis, D-at-large, have asked the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the Lorain Police Department, but so far no official investigation has been launched, according to the Justice Department.
Montelon and Molnar have said they believe the purpose of the raid was to find out who has been feeding Montelon the internal police documents and stop him from getting any more information.
Rivera and Lorain County Prosecutor Dennis Will have refused to discuss what crimes Montelon is suspected of and to won’t say which other law enforcement agencies are involved.
“During the past year, the letters became even more bizarre and disconcerting and the investigation took an additional direction and other agencies, including the Lorain Police Department, joined in the effort,” Rivera wrote Thursday.
But Peterson said he doesn’t believe his client has done anything illegal.
“I don’t think any crime has been committed,” he said. “I think they’re fishing.”
Peterson said while he hasn’t read all of the letters, what he’s seen doesn’t appear threatening. And police aren’t telling him where the investigation is going.
“Nobody has really stepped up to the plate and said ‘Mike, here’s what we’re looking at,’ ” he said.
Peterson also hasn’t seen the seven-page affidavit that police used to convince Lake County Common Pleas Judge Vincent Culotta to issue the warrant. The judge has sealed the affidavit. Peterson said he doubts it will become available unless Montelon is charged with a crime.
Rivera wrote that allegations of wrongdoing by officers in his department would be handled by another law enforcement agency, but that Lorain police are involved in the investigation into Montelon.
“Possible crimes which have been committed against individuals in the Department or are the responsibility of the Lorain Police Department to investigate are being investigated by this department,” Rivera wrote.
At least one Lorain officer who has been mentioned in the letters, Lt. Jim McCann, has said he is considering filing a lawsuit against the letter writer when the investigation is completed.
Contact Brad Dicken at 329-7147 or bdicken@chroniclet.com.
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Filed by Brad Dicken | The Chronicle-Telegram September 5th, 2008 in Local and State. Popularity: 5% |
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Comments
Comment from
me
September 5, 2008, 7:07 am
Typical case of a whistleblower suffering the consequences of telling the truth and getting retaliated against. Is that not against the law.
Comment from
WhatElseIsNew
September 5, 2008, 7:24 am
I noticed in the article it said, “He wrote”. Does this mean Rivera wrote the Chronicle a letter? Why doesn’t he just speak to them? Is it because he doesn’t want to answer their questions? Wonder what he’s hiding.
Comment from
Blade
September 5, 2008, 10:48 am
I don’t get it. Rivera said that LPD was at the raid because the primary investigators were out of State. If the primary investigators were out of State, why was there even a raid? You would think you would do the raid when the primary investigators were abvailable.
Comment from
poet
September 5, 2008, 11:43 am
I tlhink Le_Land…has written…but just not here!
Seems like Rivera is doing alot of letter writing himself.
hope no one takes his computer…
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