Sheriff - "I am not responding to the blog"

by: Christine

Sat Jan 26, 2008 at 00:00:00 AM EST

The Sheriff leaned in close to the door and strained to hear the conversation on the other side.  If he was quiet enough, he could just make out what they were saying.  He knew them all well enough to identify them by their voices.  If he was lucky, he'd make a bust.

If only he had remembered to check for the Office Manager, who was approaching him from behind.

"Sheriff?"

He was caught.  He had no choice but to act quickly.  He rushed forward, burst into the room, and caught them by surprise.

It has all the makings of really bad fiction, doesn't it?  Unfortunately, it isn't fiction.  It's the scene of the Shiawassee County Sheriff Department on the morning of April 3, 2007.  It's the beginning of the incident that led to the assault of a Deputy and a alleged conspiracy involving the Captain of the 1st District of the Michigan State Police.  

Shiawassee Co Sheriff Jon Wilson isn't terribly popular with his department.  He has the distinction of having more grievances filed against him than any other Shiawassee Co Sheriff.  (More, I hear, than all other previous Shiawassee Sheriffs combined.)  He's so loose-lipped that he's considered a hazard to the Detective's Bureau, to the point where he's deliberately excluded from investigations.   He creates a work environment that is so abusive and hostile that Deputies end up in the hospital from stress related ailments.  He commands so little respect from within the department that no one would agree to be his Undersheriff.  (He eventually gave the job to a magistrate)

But I digress, as I so often do when I have so much meat to chew.  Back to the assault.

The picture I painted for you in the blockquote is as accurate as I can make it.  Wilson was eavesdropping on the daily deputy coffee break, hoping to overhear something that he could use to 'get' his Deputies.  Instead he ended up grabbing Lt. Mike Ash by the arm and pushing him in the hallway.  

Ash immediately reported the incident to the county.  He also filed a complaint with MSP Detective Sergeant Mark Pendergraff, who initiated the process of investigation.

That afternoon, the MSP 1st District Captain was incidentally visiting with Jon Wilson at office.  Wilson was overheard saying that he would fire all of his Lieutenants, if necessary, to "make this go away."  The MSP Captain was heard responding, "Don't worry, it won't go that far."

According to witness reports, a 1st District Detective Lieutenant contacted Pendergraff about a week after the incident, and told him not to proceed with the investigation.  Pendergraff was instructed to direct the Shiawassee Deputies to conduct an internal investigation, or report to the Corunna City Police.

I tried to look into the allegations of abuse and harassment, but couldn't get any information.  No one would talk to me.  I ran head first into the proverbial wall of silence.  I got nuthin.

Months went on, and the grumbling continued, but nothing happened until Wilson publicly complained about not getting a raise.  That, as they say, was the last straw.  The dam burst open.

Dozens of people came forward to talk about the problems in the department.  Through them, I finally gathered enough information to go to the county with specific questions.  Questions that included names and dates, and weren't so easy to ignore.

But first, I went to the Michigan State Police and requested a copy of Ash's complaint.  Specifically, I wanted the statements of the 6 witnesses. (pdf)  The MSP officer who assisted me searched by date of complaint, type of complaint, responding officer, victim name, and suspect name.  There was no record of it.  Very disheartening.  The complaint was not there.

I decided that this situation was too important for me to risk screwing up.  I may be a super-blogger by night (rofl), but I'm just a person by day.  I don't do this stuff for a living, and I could easily make a mistake.  And there's always the possibility that my FOIA request might not be taken seriously.  After all, these Shiawassee people know me.  Nobody who knows me can possibly take me seriously.  (That's what I'm told)

Enter Chetly Zarko, of Zarko Research and Consulting.  That's right, the conservative-ish blogger/activist/professional was available for hire.  In my book, he was the best man for the job.  Chet came through for us, and we got the information we needed.

Meanwhile, Sheriff Wilson (you remember Sheriff Wilson?  This is a post about Sheriff Wilson) was running around the county telling everyone that he was going to get a warrant specifically so that he could get the real names of the people were posting bad things about him on the Shiawassee County forum.  (bad things ... sound familiar?) And, he was going to investigate all the computer usage of the department and fire anyone who had used a computer that had visited the forum.

As the forum owner, the threat of the warrant freaked me out, and I immediately made plans to destroy my forum rather than comply.  I wouldn't have deliberately obstructed an investigation into a crime, but the Sheriff wasn't getting a warrant to investigate a crime.  He specifically said the warrant was to get the names of the people who were saying bad things about him.  I was certainly not going to comply voluntarily with a warrant that was such an egregious violation of privacy, free speech, and free association.  Admittedly, I was emboldened by the fact that there was little probability that he would actually get a warrant.  But still.

I prepared my forum for sudden death.  I then called my boss, my better half, the ACLU, and my personal attorney.  The first two to let them know that I was probably going to jail, and the second two to have ready to come get me out.  But the warrants never came, the forum still lives, and I am still free.  (thankyouJesus)

In my spare time I hopped on over to cafepress.com and whipped up a little fun.   Despite all the phone calls to the press, and all the documentation (here and here) (pdf's), it was this bumper sticker that got us in the press - 'Bumper stickers raise questions about sheriff'.

Yep.  The bumper sticker.  But I can live with that, if that's what it takes to get the story in the press.

Which brings us, finally, to the title of this post.  That's where I got it.  

"I'm not responding to the blog ..." Wilson said.

I love it when someone says that.  Just the fact that they are being asked to respond to a blog makes my day.

But, the next bit is my favorite:

Wilson was asked for a second interview to discuss the allegations. He refused and told a reporter from The Argus-Press to be prepared to "take some responsibility" for problems the story may cause the department.

What kind of crack-pot talks like that???

And I've just been informed that Wilson phoned Dick Campbell, editor of the Argus Press, to tell him that if he printed the article, the Argus would never get any more news out of the Sheriff Dept.  

(That threat is kinda hard to take seriously.  Wilson loves getting press.  Still, what a jerk.)

So what is the point of this wicked long post that touches on a little bit of everything?  Take your pick:

• Sheriff Jon Wilson abuses his deputies
• The MSP is allegedly involved in killing the criminal investigation into the alleged assault
• Chet Zarko helped me capture the evidence of the alleged assault -- accountability and transparency are not partisan issues
• Wilson tried to suppress speech on the Shiawassee forum
• It took the gimmick of a bumper sticker to give the press a safe angle so they could run a story
• Wilson threatened the Argus Press for printing the story

So the next time you run into a Shiawassee County Deputy, just remember:  he serves under terrible conditions.  His boss really sucks.