A Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office deputy who put mud on a security camera at an Imperial home on Feb. 10 has been disciplined, Sheriff Dave Marshak said.
“The deputy received discipline as a result of his unorthodox tactics, but is still employed,” Marshak said in a written statement.
Marshak would not name the deputy nor specify how he was disciplined. However, Marshak said the deputy had been with the Sheriff’s Office for almost two years and no previous complaints had been filed against him.
“He has been on thousands of calls,” Marshak said. “This will be a learning experience for him.”
Marshak said three deputies went to the home in the 1000 block of Autumn Oaks Drive in Imperial at 6:30 a.m. Feb. 10 after the St. Louis County Police asked them to check there for an alleged noncompliant registered sex offender wanted on an arrest warrant.
Marshak said the deputy who was disciplined reportedly covered the camera with mud because he believed the suspect was monitoring his and the other two deputies’ movements.
“The deputy thought the person was inside and felt that security countermeasures would hinder future attempts at arrest or conflict,” Marshak said. “How I handled crisis, conflict and tactics in my early 20s is different than I do today. Undoubtedly, this deputy and others in our organization learned from this event. I’m confident this deputy will mature and be a great officer the county will be proud to have serve them.”
Marshak said only the deputy who covered the camera was disciplined.
“It was one officer who made the decision, so we addressed it,” Marshak said. “This was an isolated incident. We have addressed it, and we will move forward.”
Ashley Mathis, 28, who lives in the home and filed a complaint with the Sheriff’s Office over the deputy’s actions, said she knows who the deputies were looking for, adding that he has not lived at the address for six years.
Mathis said she spoke with Marshak on Feb. 13, a day after she posted information about the incident on Facebook and a local TV station reached out to her. She said she wants to talk to him again but hasn’t been able to reach him.
However, Mathis said two deputies delivered a letter to her from Marshak on Monday (Feb. 18) that said the matter is now closed and the officer would be disciplined.
Mathis said she is not satisfied with that response, though, and wants to know what kind of discipline the deputy received.
Marshak said the letter delivered on Monday is standard procedure.
“Upon the completion of any internal affairs investigation, the complainant is notified of the findings,” he said.
Mathis said she went to the Sheriff’s Office North Zone Office on Feb. 11 to file the complaint about the deputy putting mud on her camera.
She said she called the Missouri Attorney General's office on Feb. 14 to request an investigation.
“I filed that (Feb. 15),” Mathis said. “I’m waiting to hear back from that. They said it takes up to a week. They have to review all of the information and video.”
Mathis said she also plans to file a lawsuit against the Sheriff’s Office, but she has not found an attorney to represent her.
Marshak said he has limited his contact with Mathis because of her comments about suing the Sheriff’s Office.
“I personally called her and spoke with her and apologized on behalf of our organization,” Marshak said. “I did it verbally, over the phone with her, and publicly on social media (on a now removed post on the Sheriff’s Office Facebook page). As a result of that, she has shared she doesn’t accept our apology and that this situation is not over.”
Marshak said the Facebook post that addressed the situation was removed because of the comments people were making on it.
“We left it up for several days, and what it became was arguing back and forth,” Marshak said. “We made it public. Every news station handled it, and we owned up to what had happened. At some point, you need to move on. We made the decision to remove that for that reason. It was counterproductive and a place where people were arguing back and forth and threatening each other. We take liberty on removing posts like that.”
Mathis said she wants the deputy who put mud on the security camera to be transferred to a different zone. The Sheriff’s Office is divided into east, north and south zones, and Imperial is in the north zone.
“I don’t feel safe with this officer in this zone,” Mathis said.
Marshak said the deputy will not be transferred to a different zone.
“We don’t have citizens dictate our patrol patterns,” Marshak said.
Mathis also said she has not cleaned the mud off the camera. However, two new security cameras have been installed at her house with one taking the place of the damaged camera and another pointed at the front door.
She said the camera that had mud on it is no longer connected to the monitoring system, but it is still mounted on the side of the home.