Sheriff Zylak Places Administrative Charges Against Former Chief Deputy

By Kenneth C. Rossignol

ST. MARY’S TODAY

LEONARDTOWN --- Six months after the Maryland State Prosecutor turned over his yearlong investigation into how a tractor trailer load of building supplies disappeared from the locked storage of the St. Mary’s Sheriff’s Department, St. Mary’s Sheriff David Zylak has placed administrative charges against the deputy who formerly ran the agency.

Lt. Steven Doolan, who had the post of Assistant Sheriff under former Sheriff Richard Voorhaar, until Voorhaar suspended him and busted him from captain to lieutenant, after learning of the missing loot, now faces a trial board which could result in his termination from the agency.

In addition, Sheriff Zylak said that a civilian member of the agency is also going to be charged in the scandal which has rocked the Sheriff’s Department since news of the missing $40,000 worth of goods was first reported by ST. MARY’S TODAY in June of 2002.

Sheriff Zylak said on Tuesday that his investigation had resulted in his decision to place charges against Doolan, who he described as a respected veteran of the department and a man he himself has called a friend.

"I don’t take this action lightly and have done so only after a thorough investigation and a review of the charges by the Attorney General," said Zylak.

Doolan is not suspended from duty at this time and retains his police powers, his gun, his badge and his police car, said the Sheriff.

Doolan had been suspended by Voorhaar and then brought back to work performing administrative duties. Zylak’s first action was to remove Doolan from any supervisory duties and install him in the duty officer’s desk at headquarters answering phones.

Zylak said that another law enforcement agency in the state would be requested to conduct the three-officer trial board under a set of rules mandated by the Law Enforcement Officers Bill of Rights.

The trial board makes a determination of guilt or innocence and in the case of a guilty verdict, makes a recommendation to the Sheriff for discipline, which can be lessened or increased by the Sheriff.

State Prosecutor Stephen Montanarelli has been adamant in his belief that his report given to Zylak and States Attorney Richard Fritz was "just the beginning", not the end of the loot story.

Zylak was asked if he was going to be sure that friends of Doolan were not part of the trial board and he said that the agency he selects will be requested to make sure that any officers who know Doolan are recused from serving on the trial board.

District Court Judge John Slade ordered the missing loot, taken from the home of Wendell I. Ford, 37, of Hermanville, during a search and seizure warrant execution in January of 1999, returned to Ford in a hearing held in March of 2002.

All charges against Ford were dropped in October of 2000, reportedly due to an improper investigation and handling of property records by the lead investigator.

That same deputy then showered Ford with a series of traffic tickets last July 4^th and those charges were dropped as well.

Ford was illegally strip-searched in yet another incident and $5,000 in cash was illegally seized, but later ordered returned.

Ford has since been charged with identity theft and those charges will be heard later this month.

Despite efforts by Ford and his attorney, Shane Mattingly, of Leonardtown, to obtain the materials seized and ordered returned following Judge Slade’s 2002 ruling, the Sheriff’s Department refused to abide by the court order.

To this day, the Sheriff’s Department has yet to turn over the property, even though some of the loot was recovered by the State Prosecutor and turned over to the Sheriff last week.

Not until the matter was revealed in news stories in this newspaper, did former Sheriff Voorhaar say he learned of the agency’s refusal to obey the Judge’s order.

A week after the State Prosecutor requested a copy of the news article faxed to him, Sheriff Voorhaar sent a letter asking Montanarelli to investigate the missing loot scandal.

As a result of discovery, a lawsuit filed by Ford has been amended in Federal Court, accusing Doolan, his close friend Steven Cooper and Doolan’s stepson, George Michael Bowes Jr., as having conspired together to convert the missing loot to their own profit and use.

Doolan is accused in the action as having allowed the property to be improperly released to his friend and stepson.

Doolan’s wife, like Cooper, is an employee of Eagan McAllister Associates, a locally owned defense contractor who was initially listed as a victim of theft of construction materials.

EMA reportedly said that they didn’t want any items returned and before Judge Slade ordered the property returned Doolan is accused of illegally ordering the property released.

Doolan’s wife, Cecile, has also been the campaign treasurer for Fritz in the last two elections but he has recently dumped her for a new treasurer as he attempts to unseat Circuit Court Judge Karen Abrams in the coming election.

One of Ford’s attorneys in the federal action, Michael Suessmann, of Leonardtown, won a major victory in the case recently when Circuit Court Judge C. Clarke Raley ordered Sheriff Zylak to answer questions about the loot matter after he sought to skip being grilled in a protective order filed by civilian attorneys representing the Sheriff’s Department. That deposition will take place next week.

Montanarelli was deposed in the civil case in November and questions he refused to answer, citing privilege, ironically he provided detailed information in a summary that he posted on the Internet in October in an annual report.

Questions about the cover-up of the missing loot for three months, from the time the Court ordered the property returned to Ford and the time the news was first printed, still revolve around other senior officers of the agency.

Others in the community also report that they have never been able to retrieve their property, which was seized by Sheriff’s deputies over the years with some questioning whether deputies took advantage of drug dealers and illegally seized cash or property.

Sheriff Zylak said that strict adherence to property regulations in his agency, along with firm accountability, will give the public assurance that there will be no violations of policy or law regarding the disposition of property on his watch.

Persons who have gone to the department in past years and asked for the return of property say that they were intimidated into believing that they would simply be locked up under capricious charges if they persisted in asking for their property.

Zylak said last week that he has full confidence that no such incident will take place in the agency and the handling of property is part of the national accreditation process he has recently undertaken.

Zylak was elected in November of 2002 and was sworn into office in December of 2002.