Burnett County Sheriff's investigation
Officers say they were concerned about handling of domestic call

Investigation findings released

by Gary King
Leader editor
 BURNETT COUNTY - Deputies became concerned after the handling of a domestic abuse call involving a fellow officer and suggested to a sergeant that an outside agency should handle any future calls involving that officer, according to findings of an internal investigation.
 The deputies further claimed that the sergeant responded by saying, “I will handle it.”
Two 911 calls involving claims of domestic abuse against Burnett County Sheriff’s Deputy Christopher Culvey at his Webster residence in 2011 are at the heart of an investigation which thus far has resulted in the firing or disciplining of eight members of the Burnett County Sheriff’s Department at the recommendation of Sheriff Dean Roland.
 Testimony from four sheriff’s deputies who were at one or both of the calls in question, is part of more than 300 pages of interview transcripts and summaries from an internal investigation conducted last spring and summer.
 The report was released this past week in response to open records requests.
In the report, deputies claim there was no favoritism or cover-up shown to Officer Culvey because there was no reason to file a detailed report on either the Feb. 9 or March 24 incidents as there were no signs of physical violence, only a “verbal argument between a boyfriend and girlfriend.”
 But two of the four deputies who responded to the March 24 incident, Travis Thiex and Jamie Wiltrout, stated they were not comfortable with how the March 24 call was handled and say they spoke with the patrol officer in charge at the scene, Sgt. Thad Osborne, about what they would do the next time there was a call to the Culvey home.  They said they told Osborne that another law enforcement agency should be handling the calls and that Osborne told them he (Osborne) “will handle it.”
It’s the first time the stories of the deputies at the scene have been made available to the public in a controversy that has surrounded the Burnett County Sheriff’s Department for several months.

Multiple violations
 Multiple sheriff’s department employees acknowledged violating a number of department policies, according to Detective Dean C. Meyer, who conducted an investigation last spring and summer into allegations that a concerted cover-up occurred by sheriff’s deputies and dispatchers to protect one of their own.
 Deputies who were fired - Thiex, an 11-year veteran of the sheriff’s department, and Osborne, a 20-year veteran of the department and 10-year patrol sergeant, have filed grievances against their terminations.  A three-day hearing, is scheduled to begin May 7 at the Burnett County Government Center. It will be closed to the public.
 Meanwhile, Culvey, the road deputy allegedly protected from having any charges filed against him by fellow deputies and dispatchers, remains on administrative leave pending the outcome of an ongoing investigation by the state Department of Justice into allegations by Culvey’s girlfriend that he improperly touched a child.
 That allegation was taken to the Polk County Human Services in early 2012, bypassing Burnett County for apparent concern of prejudice, and included a claim that the 911 calls made to Burnett County a year earlier, on Feb. 9 and March 24 of 2011, resulted in no action being taken. Polk County Sheriff Pete Johnson informed Roland of the situation, and Roland investigated the matter.
He discovered improper or no recording of the events by dispatchers and no written accounts of the events by deputies.  It led to the firing of two dispatchers, two deputies and four disciplinary actions against other members of the department.
A hearing examiner ruled that the firing of dispatcher Maya King was unjustified.  That hearing examiner, Jeffery Kohler of Washburn County (Spooner city attorney, Washburn County Corporate Counsel), noted in summation that a “frightful chaos” was visited upon Burnett County and that he agreed with Roland in that “when one looks at the totality of the circumstances, there was a concerted cover-up.”

Verbal, not physical
In transcripts from the internal investigation, and in separate interviews, Thiex and Osborne, along with another deputy responding to the scene, Glenn Gramer, said the March 24 incident between Culvey and his girlfriend was resolved by talking to both parties and determining it was verbal only in nature. 
According to testimony by deputies, Culvey and his girlfriend were separated for the evening, Culvey apparently leaving the house in an orderly manner.
Osborne, in one of his interviews with Meyer, wanted the record to reflect that Culvey’s girlfriend offered him (Culvey) a parting gesture the night of March 24 by giving him a bowl of stew, saying “You haven’t eaten yet, hon.” Things had calmed down, Osborne noted.
Gramer, a veteran member of the department who was present at both the Feb. 9 and March 24 calls, said it wasn’t unusual for officers to respond to domestic calls where no arrests are made, depending on the circumstances.  Osborne, in his testimony, said the same, noting he had handled such incidents the same for 20 years - situations where “domestic” incidents amounted to verbal confrontations.
However, Meyer’s questioning of deputies focused on department procedure and even state statutes, that require documentation of all domestic-related calls, quoting at one point from the Burnett County Sheriff’s Department policy manual:
“It shall be the policy of the Burnett County Sheriff’s Department that action be taken in cases involving or alleging to involve abuse to include investigation of incident, referral to the district attorney, safety and protection of victims and arrest of primary physical aggressor.”
The policy also states any alleged victim should be offered an on-scene advocate and resources for domestic abuse counseling.
When no arrest is made the on-scene officer shall submit a written report explaining why, the policy continues.
None of this occurred in response to either incident.

Statements
 The alleged victim claims she reported in her Feb. 9 statement that she called 911 at 8 a.m. because Culvey was hollering, swearing, calling her names and because he had physically backed her into a corner of their bedroom at their village of Webster home while hollering at her.  She said she told Culvey she was going to call the police, and Culvey responded by saying go ahead, the police aren’t going to do anything anyway.  Webster Village Police Chief Mike Spafford and sheriff’s Deputy Gramer responded to that call, with Gramer the apparent primary officer. 
 In her March 24 statement, she called at 10:30 p.m. because Culvey was upset, hollering, swearing, slamming doors and cupboards and was throwing things at her.  She again said she was going to call the police, and Culvey allegedly said, “Go ahead and call the police, they won’t do anything, I am the police.”
 Responding to the March 24 incident were deputies Osborne, Thiex, Gramer and Jamie Wiltrout, who said he responded on his own to talk with Culvey and keep his mind off of what was going on in the house. He was there to socialize and said he did not file a report because he didn’t do anything.
 Some of the details of the alleged victim’s statements did not come out in verbal interviews conducted at the scene, according to statements made in the interviews.  FULL STORY IN THIS WEEK'S LEADER (available on newsstands or via e-edition).
  Below are findings of an investigation into alleged misconduct of Burnett County Sheriff's deputies in relation to their response to 911 domestic-related calls to the home of a fellow officer.  Detective Dean Meyer of Meyer, Sullivan, Hahn & Associations, LLC, a private detective agency, conducted the investigation
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