The Game of Clue and the Secret Police of Mason County

[XLFD]

Investigations are Public Information

This year, I have been repeatedly rebuffed by local officials, acting contrary to law and precedent, to get information about investigations.  The County Prosecutor and Ludington Chief of Police totally denied me and several others the request for information about any aspects of the Baby Kate case, in particular anything regarding the mother, Ariel Courtland., even after a year of investigation which found Sean Phillips guilty of unlawful imprisonment and sentenced to ten to fifteen years in prison.  Even records dealing with a periphery witness, Dan Ruba, were denied to interested parties requesting those records through the FOIA.

The Ludington Chief of Police, Mark Barnett, then disallowed the perusal of any sort of investigative records involving the marina death of Ling Yan Zou, saying that the release of any record would interfere with a police investigation.  The records were eventually released well after the investigation was closed, well after the Chief said it would be available, and did not support any legal assertion used by the Chief or the City for denying the release.  In similar manner, the Chief allowed the viewing of the marina cameras during the twelve hours prior to Ling's body being found, but did not allow any 'still' or 'screen shot' of those videos to be released, claiming a specious exemption due to a compromising of marina security.

The Michigan FOIA declares:  "It is the public policy of this state that all persons are entitled to full and complete information regarding the affairs of government and the official acts of those who represent them as public officials and public employees, consistent with this act."  It only exempts investigative records if it would interfere with law enforcement proceeding, deprive a person to the right of a fair trial or invade their privacy, or disclose a confidential informant's identity.

Clueless

Few would argue that sometimes an investigator needs to keep some of his findings from the public at large, as anyone who has played to win the board game Clue could attest.  But if someone suggested it was "Professor Plum with a Candlestick in the Billiard Room" to you, and you had any one of the three cards asked for, you would be in violation of the rules if you decided to keep that to yourself.

Furthermore, your refusal to show that card may result in the other players of the game making wrong assumptions, and lead to the accusal of Professor Plum even when that card rested firmly in your hand, and Miss Scarlet is found to be the one who did it.  This would hold true also if you just decided to show your cards to some of the players when asked, but not to others; perhaps because you thought they may be better at the game than you.  It's cheating, either way, and should make the other players averse to playing the game with you.

So why are our local law enforcement agencies paying good salaries to their detectives with the people's taxmoney to conduct investigations just so that they can hold their cards close to their vest, and not reveal the scope, the contents, and the non-contents of their actions to the other players in the area, the people, making simple, legitimate requests?  And why can't they reveal particulars of certain investigations, instead of creating the breeding ground for rumors and misinformation out in the public?

Questions regarding the focus of the Baby Kate investigation, and the unlawful withholding of any records from the public has helped create doubt of our local justice systems competency and motives.  Not just for the people of our area, but from around the country.  If Baby Kate's mother is not a suspect, then why can't they show us her card when we ask for it?  Until they can do that, the public has many reasons to think that it may be her and not Sean Phillips (or both or neither) in that little brown envelope.

Good Secrets Bad Secrets

A youngster's storybook I've read to the kids distinguishes between 'good' and 'bad' secrets.  Good secrets are generally kept to not ruin the surprise for others about something.  Bad secrets are secrets kept when someone gets hurt, sad or scared and threatened not to tell either directly or indirectly.

We generally instruct kids to keep good secrets secret, and to tell a trusted adult or authority a bad secret, so they, or someone else they know of, do not get hurt, sad, or scared.  Once these bad secrets are told to trusted adults/authorities, we hope they can act on them to stop the bad situation.

But sometimes bad secrets remain secrets even when someone does come forward and tells who they should.  This is what happened at Penn State and caused the downfall of legendary football coach, Joe Paterno, and others who kept the bad secret as a secret.  When a bad secret remains secret, how can it change from being a bad secret to a good secret?  Someone is still being hurt, sad, or scared, and now another entity who should know better, is keeping it secret.  This makes the secret even badder.

In the case of Penn State, secrets were kept to protect the reputations of the university and its officials.  In the end, when everything came out, the secrets meant to protect good names, made those names eventually synonymous with cover-ups and reckless apathy.  The end result was that all involved were irreparably tarnished, just as surely as the similar events that happened with the Catholic Church and its own lax record of following up on reports of abuse.

Local Authorities Keeping Bad Secrets

The above subheading is not new to my threads I have used in the Ludington Torch.  But these authorities are not the usual suspects you see featured here.  The Mason County Press published this article on 10-18-2012 telling us of a former MCC coach being under suspicion for an undisclosed crime for a couple of months, and a two month investigation underway by the Mason County Sheriif's Office (MCSO) and an internal investigation by the school (which could neither confirm or deny the allegation).  A public school is a public body subject to a FOIA request, and so I sent a FOIA asking for resignation letters of coaches, going back into 2011, because there was something else I was also checking on.  Two days afterward, the COLDNews had a similar article on the topic with about the same facts.

They were slow on the answer to my request, Superintendant Mount sent me two E-mails on the last morning of when they needed to answer, which I never saw until a bit later in the day.  His assistant at 4 PM that day sent me a letter stating:

"... we require additional time to search, examine, review and separate information as appropriate. We shall also send notification to affected individuals via US mail prior to releasing information to you.

I also wish to inform you that Mason County Central Schools shall exercise its right to charge a fee for the labor required to search, examine, review, separate, and copy information, which will require an estimated minimum of two hours of time by personnel of this office, at a rate of $28.02 per hour.  In addition, the need to copy pages to be redacted will cost $0.25 per page.

We shall await your response acknowledging these fees."

I provided a lengthy response giving them a civics lesson on the proper use of the word "right", and the FOIA, and wondering why they were wasting time and effort by notifying all coaches that they were the object of a FOIA request via the US Mail.  I also requested a copy of their FOIA policy.

Mount replied, saying:  "you have an inclination to cry "foul" whenever an entity in a position of "power" does not meet your immediate needs." and " I am assuming what prompted your FOIA request was the recent Ludington Daily News article regarding a "Former" coach being investigated.  If that is the case, I can tell you the investigation was brought to our attention on September 4th, 2012 and as stated in the article, we received a letter of resignation shortly thereafter."

Frankly, I resent being characterized by someone without proof of their statement, and I never had saw the COLDNews article up to that point, contrary to his assumption, only the much earlier and better written Mason County Press article.  I replied in full:

"You can assume what you want and be mostly wrong, but am I to assume that MCC does not have its own FOIA policy?  If not, I would object to the $.25 a page being the incremental cost of copying the records that need be exempt, and the "two hours" of search and review time as being an unreasonable high cost to the school district as defined by law, or $28 being the hourly fee of the lowest paid employee able to get the request.  That in itself is outrageous.

As stated, I would also like you to answer whether I am paying for the time it takes you to track down the past coaches and inform them that someone is wanting to look at their resignation letters.   I would like to make any further decision with the facts, so send me a copy of your FOIA policy, which shouldn't take "two hours" to scan and send me, if it already isn't on electronic files, and take the estimated "two hours" to respond to the original request as per the act.  I don't think I should be paying for the administration office lacking an efficient filing system.  Don't make me blow the whistle."

I like phrases with double meanings.  The records were finally produced via 16 scanned documents at no set cost yet.  There had been 15 coach letters of resignation since the beginning of 2011, with one letter of confirmation for those resignations.  That one confirmation letter was for the coach that was under investigation, drafted after MCC schools knew that the coach was under investigation.

Appearances can be deceiving, but when administrators change their usual protocol when a former coach is under investigation by making a confirmation letter, and also have an unwritten policy that makes them contact past employees when their resignation letters are asked for, makes the actions of the school district look a little suspect.  It is against the interests of MCC administrators for them to turn up criminal activity on their employees; if they find nothing, or can plausibly deny an allegation, it works to their benefit.  Financially and reputationally.

Former Girl's Soccer Coach Todd Johnson is a Suspect Without a Crime

 

Using Mr. Mount's clues and with the records acquired, the only person who fits the bill is Todd Johnson, who head-coached the MCC girl's varsity soccer squad.  Natural prejudices might suggest that you have a male coaching high school females, and that the charge is related to some form of  improper sexual conduct.  That may be far from the actual allegation.  But neither the sheriff's office or the MCC administrators are showing cards willingly, so we may never know.

 

Is keeping Coach Johnson's name secret as a target of an investigation and not stating the allegation that is being investigated serve the public interest?  I don't think so; many members of the public that know nothing of this charge or the man so charged may be holding information that could prove him innocent or guilty.  If the charges are baseless, and the local media act responsibly, then Todd should be able to have his name vindicated, and it will serve as a cautionary tale for those coaches who aren't so honorable, and for students who make up stories.

Keeping the name and charges secret goes counter to what we should expect from our authorities and teaches our kids that it is okay to keep secrets if you work for a government agency, whether it be the police or your public school.  And whether they be good secrets or bad secrets.

I have sent out another FOIA to get the school to show the people the internal investigation it conducted, and concluded, so the public can be informed.  And when that information is received, we will all hopefully presume Todd Johnson to be innocent until proven guilty.  The local system of secrecy and opacity, however, will be once again found wanting in its service to the public, and cheating at the game of Clue.

[Willy]

Another fine article X. In my opinion the release of a persons name before they have been charged is a two edged sword. On one hand the public has a right to know what is going on but on the other hand the accused has a right, as far as I'm concerned, not to have their name released until there are charges brought against them. I have seen to many incidences where a person has been falsely accused and their good name and reputation has be tarnished or ruined by news information released about them and if and when they are found to be innocent of any wrong doing most of the media buries that story where noone will notice. It's a fine line between the right for us to know and the rights of the individual being investigated. 

[XLFD]

The media does often behave badly when something like this comes out.  I know a person who did nothing more than provide a publicly accessible assessor's link from the City of Ludington's own website and whose name was dragged through the mud and numerous of his civil rights were violated in the ensuing process with full assistance from the local paper. 

If the MCC school district and the local authorities want to spend taxpayer money on extended investigations, I think we deserve some particulars about what is going on up front, and be apprised of anything that isn't specifically protected by the exemptions of the FOIA, without curious citizens having to dig that information up, with grief piled on to them by the public entity who does not like giving that info out. 

If I was a parent of any one of the MCC student athletes, I would want to know what may have happened and whether my kid had been a possible victim or witness.  And provide any exculpatory evidence for the accused or the accuser(s).  And even though it rarely happens as you note, the media need to promote the follow-up story at equal billing whether guilt or innocence is found. 

[Marty Redman]

One of my pet peeves is incomplete news stories.  Thats why I like the Torch!  If you are a news org and only get the bare bones of a story that begs a lot of questions get off your tookus and put some meat on the skeleton.  I will keep checking in to see what Varsity Soccer Coach Todd Johnson is alleged to have done that requires an investigation that takes a sheriffs office and a school over a quarter of a year to do.

[XLFD]

On behalf of the citizen journalists of the Ludington Torch, we accept your unsolicited testimonial to our USDA certification of beefy news.  In full disclosure, I am more interested not in Mr. Johnson's guilt or innocence, but in the actions of the Sheriff's Office and the MCC school district in their investigations.  

[XLFD]

According to the Mason Co. Press, the MCSO has now turned over their investigation's  information on Coach Johnson to the Prosecutor's office.  Contrary to the MCP philosophy, the Ludington Torch will continue to seek and put out information so as to protect Mr. Johnson and the allegator from the vagaries of our local investigatory officials who conduct secret investigations when they are not called for, and refuse to give out any records when legitimately they are supposed to. 

[XLFD]

After sending a FOIA request to see:  "All 'writings' as defined by FOIA, MCL 15. 231, et. seq., regarding the already noted internal investigation of Todd Johnson, the former Girl's Varsity Soccer Coach that MCC conducted this year.", I got my response.

The 'writings' reference covers all written records, audio recordings, E-mails, etc. that reference the inconclusive internal investigation conducted by MCC, which Superintendant Mount referenced previously in the media.  I was incredibly surprised with the succinct reply:  "This is to inform you that Mason County Central has no "writings" such as you have indicated in the attached FOIA request." 

A recent internal investigation with exactly no written or otherwise recorded documents in the possession of MCC?!  That is the weirdest investigation I've ever heard of.  I had to expect a penalty may have been committed, I wrote back:  "Let me get this straight: MCC conducted an internal investigation on Coach Johnson on some still-secret allegations and made no written or otherwise recorded records of the investigation.

I cry foul: intentional grounding. Consider this an administrative appeal. If you cannot return me some rationale for not having any sort of records on this investigation by the day's end, I will be writing a story on what I think is a bogus internal investigation, and your office misrepresenting itself to the public."

To which Mr. Mount replied:  "Write your story as you wish as we do not have any notes regarding the internal investigation and therefore cannot and need not produce any such notes per your request. The administrative team has conducted the investigation since it was brought to our attention September 4th by a Mason County Sheriff Detective. We were advised to keep our ears open as the investigation breaks to see if there is any possible link to students at MCC. Our investigation has not turned up any further evidence linked to the school district except for the fact that he was a coach here. We did not conduct any interviews because we did not and still do not have anyone linked to this case to interview; therefore no notes were taken. The investigation is stemming from allegations made outside of school. We have worked with law enforcement as they have kept us informed on the progress of the case only because he was a former coach and that we would be hit up by the media because of that prior relationship." 

Pending what is exactly being investigated here, I think this bespeaks more of negligence than an 'internal investigation'.  There should be at least some passage of information between administrators/teachers and a synopsis of the extent, means, and points of the 'internal investigation'.  The fact that there isn't, means that Mr. Mount was probably lying about any credible 'internal investigation', in an effort to make the parents of kids in the MCC district to feel more secure, and his 'internal investigation' likely exists only within his internal thoughts.

[XLFD]

Well Todd Johnson is being charged with CSC third degree, which likely involves a penetrative act with a 16-17 year old, when the perp is a teacher or coach, as seen in a 'press release' courtesy of MCP.

So... MCC conducted an internal investigation on Coach Johnson on these allegations and made no written or otherwise recorded records of the investigation.  If I had my daughter in the MCC School system, I would be stridently asking "why not?".  A student was a probable victim of CSC and there is no proof that an investigation even was initiated even though they had been apprised of the alleged behavior.  Why not Superintendent Jeff Mount, doesn't this amount to something that should be investigated formally and documented?  Is this a cover your butt move or what?  This is why the public is losing confidence in their authorities.

[masonco]

Just happened to see the old movie "Dukes of Hazzard" Hmmm couldn't help think of Shay being Boss Hogg and the others his bubbas. Boss Hogg is above all laws but gets away with locking up those who "meddle" in his affairs.  Next time some here go to the council meeting maybe they need to go as "the general" ( the orange car) Bo & Luke drove.