The Secret Lives of Mason County Correction Officers

[XLFD]

The City of Ludington Daily News (COLDNews) put this out today concerning an altercation that occurred between two correction officers: Corrections officer charged with assault for Oct. 21 incident at Ma...

'A Mason County corrections officer was charged with simple assault following an Oct. 21 incident at the Mason County Jail involving another Mason County corrections officer.

The Mason County Sheriff’s Office announced late Wednesday morning that a warrant was issued for the corrections officer following an investigation into the incident by the Michigan Sheriff’s Association Missions Team. The results of the investigation were then turned over to the Mason County Prosecutor’s Office and the warrant was issued.

The deputy facing the charge has been on administrative leave pending the disposition of the case, the MCSO reported.

The MCSO said Wednesday morning that no information about the incident will be available."

(Emphasized in bold-face print for your easier detection)

 

Two Mason County Correction Officers, presumably both working at the Mason County jail at the time of the altercation and on their job have some sort of conflict where one believes the other has assaulted him/her.  Two public officials paid by public money, at a public facility paid for with public money, have a public altercation that will take public money to investigate,that will likely be funded by the public on both ends for the prosecution and defense of the two officers-- and exactly no information other than the incomplete sketch drawn above will be available to the public. 

This is Mason County transparency, as exemplified by the Sheriff's Office, the Prosecutor's office, and our biggest municipal corporation, the City of Ludington.   

[XLFD]

For those that aren't sure about what a mission team is:

The Michigan Sheriff’s Association has organized “Missions Teams” to enable sheriff’s departments across the state, particularly those in more sparsely populated rural areas to have investigations done by trained impartial, unbiased detectives that they could not otherwise afford.

Typically a Mission Team includes two investigators experienced in a field related to the complaint, and generally they are sent from two distant counties to avoid the likelihood of encountering friends, relatives or acquaintances in the course of the investigation.

Most of the investigative services are on a reciprocal basis, although the requesting county covers some of the expenses incurred by the investigating team.

[XLFD]

The alleged assailant corrections officer name has been released, it's Mary Lucas, 46, of Ludington. 

The assailee likely is one of the following, the current correction officers at the facility:

Administrative Sgt.
Bethany Carrier

Correction Sgt.
Mike Lyons
Dean Samuels
Kevin Thurston
Kelly Winters

Corrections Officers:

Doug Alexander
Dale Berndt
Randy Cogle
Mark Englebrecht
Eric Soneral
Jim Lindenau
Holly Flannery

Steve Morton
Megan Patterson
Ed Rasmussen
Ken VanSickle

[Willy]

My guess is she hit another female officer. Most men would not file charges if hit by a woman unless she used a weapon of some sort.

[Willy]

Eye

My guess is she took a swing at another woman so I say "hit" you say "shove" "headlock", take your pick.  One of the definitions that I found that defines "assault" is " An unlawful threat or attempt to do bodily injury to another. She may have threatened the other officer but I don't think the Corrections department would have issued a warrant for that.

[XLFD]

Willy's assumptions are very valid, in my assumptive opinion.

It is listed as a simple assault, meaning there was no weapon involved of a lethal nature.  A female is the likely 'victim' since male CO's have a certain reputation to uphold, so they would only report an assault if it was an uncalled-for humdinger of an assault that left some damage. 

The MCSO has apparently fibbed by saying that no more information will be made available, big surprise.  I, or someone else who wants transparency, will have all the details of this altercation before long.  Public information has a desire for freedom.

[easymoney]

Lets not forget, while on administrative leave, they still continue to be paid.

Nice work if you can get it.

[AQUAMAN]

Nice poke easy, and furthermore, I'd like to hear anything Angie might add to this story. Thanks.

[XLFD]

Yes, it is from their website, so it may be outdated depending on how well that website is updated.  Mary Lucas was taken off the list since she was the alleged assaulter, and I don't think they would be investigating her for assaulting herself.  Personally, I know at least four of them, and unlike some of our local peace officers and chieftains, I have no reason to believe any correction officer on the list has done anything wrong, and I hope they keep it that way.  

The Sheriff's declarations to withhold this incident from the public EyE is what is really interesting and motivating me to find out what I can on this incident.  He believes it's none of our business, but it obviously is as it affects at least two of our public officials, at least one of our public institutions, and eats up our tax dollars in investigating/covering it up.

[XLFD]

I won't mentioning their names, since any connection to me may get them punched out by other officers (let me suffix that as a joke), but two of them I know from going to school with them about 30 years ago, and two I know from their work at area fire departments. 

Unless you go to the sheriff's office/county jail, you're likely not to see them in their uniform, yet I still don't see the one's I know but rarely.  Unfortunately, I don't know any of them enough to get more information than what I've managed so far.

[XLFD]

The MCP has added some more to the information available earlier today:  "Sheriff Kim Cole said the sheriff’s association team acted as an internal affairs investigation team. He said he and his administrative team were not part of the investigation.

Cole said once the criminal process is completed then his department will conduct an internal investigation. “It’s important that we keep the two investigations separate,” he said."

I asked for a few items in a FOIA request, and Sheriff Cole responded earlier today.  About any written records concerning this incident:  "I’m not opposed to releasing the report however; we do not have any reports regarding this complaint in house.  It would be with the Prosecutor and the agency which investigated the complaint.  Because this is an open case I would request you do (sic) direct with the Mason County Prosecutor’s Office for any further information sought." 

It's very odd to the point of unbelievable that there would be no MCSO written records about this incident:  no incident report, no complaint by the attacked, no mention of it on the logs or its subsequent disposition before it got to the Missions team.  Using the term 'in house' makes me think the sheriff is playing word games as he has in the past.

 

I also asked for "All Mission team agreements/rules/protocols that the MCSO is part of or follows."  and he responded to that part:  "With respect to MISSIONS rules you; need to contact the Michigan Sheriffs’ Association at 620 South Capitol Ave., Suite 320, Lansing MI 48933. Again, any rules, protocols or agreements would be housed there." 

Again, it's odd to the point of incredible that the MCSO does not have any agreements or protocols on hand regarding these mission teams.  In my understanding, members of the MCSO could be part of these Mission teams themselves investigating other sheriff departments at a moment's notice.  Surely, they do not go into such situations untrained as to the rules and protocols.

 

Lastly he points out:  "With respect to the video; the alleged assault took place in a secured portion of the jail and I’m not inclined to put that out to the public due to security concerns. I will however, contact the county attorney with your request and seek his advice." 

That is not an exemption noticed by the FOIA, even when you stretch its interpretation.  Sheriff Cole loves the oath of office on his wall, hates the idea of actually following it.

[XLFD]

Art Dean, you appear to be seriously misinformed.  I have had no lawsuits with the sheriff's office, and as far as our county government, only a FOIA lawsuit with County Prosecutor Spaniola (which I won, but lost money in the prosecution thereof).   I have worked for Federal (Census Bureau), State (Ludington State Park Ranger) and Local Government (Ludington Fire Department) in the past so I have received 'public money', but I also did my job without assaulting my fellow public employees. 

You apparently love to have your head in the sand, and if that's the direction you want to have it, you're welcome to it.  But when I hear that the money they take from honest, hard-working citizens like yourself is used to cover up what they do as public servants on your dime, I prefer to get involved and ask for information and questions that should be asked.  You can go right on and applaud and commend them getting into fights among themselves.

[Willy]

Art

Are you referring to X's law suit against public officials who are operating outside of the law? You seem to be concerned about X receiving "public money" for standing up and protecting our rights as citizens, which he challenged at his own peril, but have no qualms about Ludington's elected officials wasting of "public money" and potential corrupt behavior. I can't understand this kind of thinking even after all the facts have been presented on this forum showing the illegal choices made by the City of Ludington. It's thinking like yours that empower corrupt politicians to continue to stick it to the public.

I appreciate how difficult it can be to work with potential criminals but they volunteered for the job. I'm one of those people who do not consider law enforcement personal as "great" or "heroes" . Lots of people have stress on their jobs but get no accolades for their efforts.