1. Negligence for safety
2. Falsification of Official Documents
3. Failure to follow orders
4. Derogatory Ethnic Remarks
Of the above charges, Sgt. McGuire had the failure to follow orders, and the derogatory ethnic remark charges sustained against him.
VCSO 26.2.62 - "Employees shall not make derogatory remarks concerning race, sex, religion, age or national origin of any person."
According to the IA report, the failure to follow orders charge was connected to McGuire's failure to adhere to sheriff department's workplace harassment and discrimination policies. (VCSO Policies 22.10)
The documents appear to support that Sgt. McGuire had some type of sexual / race or other harassment / discriminatory charge sustained against him. We (VolusiaExposed) leave it to you, our reader, to interpret for yourself what exact allegations the VCSO sustained. We do this because, in our opinion, the VCSO failed to clearly document which allegations they sustained.
An example of the lack of clarity can be found in - did the VCSO sustain that McGuire was discrimintory toward Deputy Donna Bowen's gender, or her religion -
OR both?.
Further, we (VolusiaExposed) question why a violation of the "derogatory remarks" policy was not apparently investigated within - given the allegations of Deputy Donna Bowen and civilian Christina Clay (see pages 16-18)?
While gives clear indicators, that VCSO officials investigated Sgt. McGuire's alleged derogatory comments towards Deputy Bowen, VolusiaExposed expresses the opinion that the alleged comments towards Ms. Clay went unaddressed by VCSO investigators. VolusiaExposed questions whether this was done to avoid placing the VCSO in a unfavorable civil liability position, should Ms. Clay opt to seek legal redress. Obviously, it would be difficult for the county's legal department to defend against such a civil lawsuit, if VCSO investigators had already sustained Sgt. McGuire's misconduct against Ms. Clay.
Falsification of Official Documents
VCSO Policy # 26.2.109 - Employees Shall Not Knowlingly Falsify Or Knowingly Cause Another To Falsify Any Official Record Or Document
(Violation Subject Up To Dismissal)
One of the more serious acts of misconduct lodged against Sgt. McGuire in was that he ordered a deputy (Robert Leffler) to knowingly falsify an official law enforcement report. (see page 1-2 of IA-14-015)
In a sworn statement conducted during the internal affairs investigation, Deputy Leffler stated his belief that Sgt. McGuire had "directed him to change his report to cover up the possibility of an active methamphetamine lab" (see page 6-9 of IA-14-015).
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While the internal investigation did NOT sustain the falsification charge against Sgt. McGuire, we invite our readers to review the IA report for themselves, so that they may form their own opinion on whether this misconduct charge was processed appropriately.
Our concern in this matter, is NOT focused on whether Deputy Leffler, or Sgt. McGuire, had the better law enforcement knowledge to determine the existence of an active meth lab.
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An Excellent Video Regarding
What Are Brady Lists / Brady Cops
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Rather, our concern centers around Sgt. McGuire allegedly ordering that personal property, and possible criminal evidence, be destroyed.
Also, why would Sgt. McGuire have a concern that Deputy Leffler was documenting the FACT of the destruction in his incident report?
The avoidance of "questions" was Sgt. McGuire's rationale for deleting any reference to, and destruction of the property from Leffler's report. (see page 9 IA-2014-015)
Ironically, it would now appear that harder questions are being asked on why facts have been deleted from a law enforcement report. Sadly, it's does not appear to be the administration of the Volusia County Sheriff Department that are asking or demanding answers to these questions.
Such has a chilling effect regarding the integrity of Volusia County's law enforcement, when it's coupled with allegations that investigative facts are being deleted in other law enforcement reports.
Case in point - the on-going Ebony Wilkerson prosecution, whereas the Public Defender's office has alleged that police reports where re-written to remove .
In our opinion, the internal investigative report supports that Deputy Leffler was uncomfortable with having to remove the fact that the property / evidence had been flushed down the toilet.
"Deputy Leffler stated he felt Sgt. McGuire directed him to change his report to cover up the possibility of an active methamphetamine lab" (page 9 IA-2014-015).
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DBNJ Article
Ebony Wilkerson Prosecution
Changing Law Enforcement Reports
Click Image To Review
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At the end of the day - we (VolusiaExposed) are left wondering which is worst? The fact that we suspect that Sgt. McGuire was attempting to cover up the existence of a suspected drug lab, OR the apparent fact, that Deputy Leffler, and possibly other deputies, suspected that their sergeant was covering up a drug lab? Wonder what affect those suspicions are having on the internal morale of the VCSO?
Definitely Doesn't Pass The Smell Test !
Smells Like Bullshit To Us - How About You?
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While VolusiaExposed can only imagine what affect these allegations are having on the morale at the VCSO, we are of the opinion that both internal investigations against Sgt. McGuire were nothing but "cover ups" by the VCSO.
Try as the VCSO might, their Fred Astaire tap dance justifications, fall short in convincing us, that Sgt. McGuire did not knowingly have Deputy Leffler falsify an official law enforcement document.
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The Christina Clay Incident
We are also of the opinion, that Sgt. McGuire's interactions with female arrestee, Christina Clay was extremely inappropriate. In our opinion, it's a fair bet that given McGuire's rather light disciplinary action, both of these behaviors will surface again.(see IA-2014-015 pg 2-3 - VCSO Incident # 13-35164)
The Hottie Rape Victim
Also disturbing was Sgt. McGuire's cavalier and degrading comments referring to a rape victim as a "hottie". (page 2 - IA-2014-019). However, more disturbing is the VCSO's apparent disregard for the seriousness of McGuire's statement, especially given the fact that the VCSO has just recently taken over the supervision of the .
Given that Sgt. McGuire only received a 24 hour suspension - it is our opinion, that it will be extremely difficult for the VCSO to continue to argue that they maintain a zero tolerance level regarding sexual discrimination / harassment.
VCSO's Apparent High Tolerance For BS And The Manipulation Of Investigations
Who Is Sgt. McGuire's Un-Identified "Female Friend"?
Yes, we know it's hard to believe, but there is yet another very disturbing allegation by Deputy Donna Bowen against Sgt. McGuire. Deputy Bowen alleges that during Bike Week in March 2014, Sgt. McGuire ordered her, while both were on duty, to drive a civilian vehicle owned by an un-identified female friend of McGuire, from the parking lot of a well known biker bar to McGuire's personal residence.
Apparently, per the investigative report, one of McGuire's female friends had consumed too much alcohol and was too impaired to drive away from the bar.
VolusiaExposed finds it very interesting that VCSO investigators did not bother to identify, or interview, Sgt. McGuire's "female friend". VCSO officials identified and interviewed Ms. Christina Clay - the female arrestee that Deputy Bowen alleged Sgt. McGuire had spoken very unprofessional to. So why didn't VCSO officials identify this "female friend" of McGuire?
VolusiaExposed.Com suspects that there are some deceitful reasons why this woman's identity was not inclusive to the VCSO investigative report. Then again, maybe the woman's name was not included in the report under the same rationale Sgt. McGuire wanted the meth lab reference removed from Deputy Leffler's report - people might ask questions!
So, is it now an acceptable practice, to leave out pertinent information from law enforcement reports, in order to avoid questions?
Clearly, according to the attached internal investigative report, both McGuire and Bowen were unavailable to answer service calls while McGuire's female friend's situation was being attended to. Therefore, we (VolusiaExposed) believe that the public has the right to know the identity of the female that ranked so highly, that two deputies could be placed on "special detail" to take her intoxicated butt and car home. With those thoughts in mind, VolusiaExposed sent VCSO Public Information Officer, Gary Davidson this . We will let you know if, or when, we get a response.
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UPDATE
- McGuire's female friend's name was NOT documented.
Was it not documented, in order to avoid answering some embarrassing questions? Maybe, that explain why the falsification charge was not sustained against Sgt. McGuire. Is leaving pertinent information out of reports actually encouraged within the VCSO administration?
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During this "special detail" - Sgt. McGuire's patrol car's automatic vehicle locator (AVL) dropped out of service for approximately one and a half hours. Sgt. McGuire has had a rather rotten history with his AVL dropping out of service. In 2012, an anonymous person filed a complaint with the VCSO that alleged that Sgt. McGuire was engaging in sexual encounters with a certain female officer from another Volusia County law enforcement agency. VolusiaExposed posted a in which we provided the documents attached to those allegations, which included problems with McGuire's AVL dropping out of service.
, Sgt. McGuire was cleared of any misconduct attached to the 2012 allegations.
What's Next?
Being that VCSO did submit a CJSTC 78 form to the Criminal Justice Standards and Training Commission (CJSTC / FDLE) indicating that they sustained a moral character violation against him - the CJSTC will review this situation for possible disciplinary action against McGuire's Florida State Law Enforcement Certification.
In reality, expect little action to be taken by the CJSTC. In our opinion, the CJSTC's review will be as much of a dog and pony show as the VCSO's investigation was. Couple that, with the fact that McGuire's father is a well known and respected retired law enforcement officer, and we predict that he will easily skate through this ordeal. That's just the way it is - somethings will never change.
Now for some of the other deputies involved, like Donna Bowen, - or other members of the complete Alpha shift that McGuire seems to believe have "issues with him" (2014-015 pg. 22) - they may not skate by - their careers in the VCSO just may be in jeopardy - and that too is just the way it is, at least when you are in the employment of Volusia County government.
Yeah, we know - we (VolusiaExposed) have heard it all before - Volusia County has a zero tolerance policy on employee retaliation. Just like they profess to having a zero tolerance on sexual harassment and discrimination - right? If you still believe that Volusia County government maintains these zero tolerance policies - then, we are left believing that you have not taken the time to read the McGuire IA reports.
Until we meet again - Adios, Au revoir, Auf wiedersehen
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If you found this article to be thought provoking, we
(VolusiaExposed.Com) invite you to review, the below linked, Special
Investigative Report, exposing law enforcement corruption with the State
of Florida.
SARASOTA HERALD-TRIBUNE'S
SPECIAL INVESTIGATIVE SERIES ON LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRUPTION
by Matthew Doig and Anthony Cormier
Additional concerns surrounding the
Volusia County Sheriff's Department
We look forward to your comments on this situation.
Drop us a line to let us know what you think.
EMAIL US
"Police throughout the United States have been caught fabricating, planting, and manipulating evidence to obtain convictions where cases would otherwise be very weak. Some authorities regard police perjury as so rampant that it can be considered a "subcultural norm rather than an individual aberration" of police officers."
