A Trotwood police detective is facing disciplinary action after an internal affairs investigation concluded he sexually harassed a female co-worker, and acted unprofessionally during a criminal investigation tied to a Dayton police officer.
Sgt. Joseph McCrary, a 21-year veteran with the Trotwood police department, is still employed but has been reassigned from the detective's section to another area after he was accused. A female detective filed the complaint on Nov. 1, 2013, according to an internal affairs investigation obtained exclusively by the newspaper.
McCrary could not be reached for comments Wednesday.
This is the second investigation into sexual harassment complaints involving McCrary. He was found to have made inappropriate comments to a female office worker and a female police officer between 2006-2008 and disciplinary action was taken, according to Trotwood police.
An external investigator, attorney David Duwel, was hired to review the 2013 complaint. It indicates the harassment began in April 2007 when McCrary reportedly made sexually explicit comments about the detective while out with other officers at Grill's Tavern in Trotwood. McCrary made the comments before he was promoted to the rank of sergeant, according to the report.
In Oct. 2011, after McCrary was promoted to sergeant and became the detective's supervisor, his accuser told investigators he made lewd comments about her, her husband and bodily fluids in connection with a rape investigation. Two other officers reportedly heard those remarks, and confirmed them to the internal affairs investigator. McCrary denied the conversation, though the investigator concluded he lied.
"The comments were clearly sexually harassing and totally unacceptable in a workplace environment," Duwel wrote in the report.
In December 2012, the female detective said she became uncomfortable when McCrary showed her and other officers a sexually-explicit video featuring a "singing vagina." But McCrary told an investigator it was a hand puppet, according to a report.
Although the detective was not the only one to find the video inappropriate, no officers made a complaint because, they told Duwel, there was a "zone of protection," around McCrary, and that he is protected by his relationships with Capt. Erik Wilson and Chief Quincy Pope. This perception was supported by nearly every officer Duwel interviewed, the report said.
In October 2013, the detective said McCrary told her she would be re-assigned to the property room because the officer in charge of those duties was leaving. She protested the reassignment, and indicated another officer wanted the job. However, McCrary reportedly told her she would be "black-balled" should she try to get out of it. Eventually, another officer was assigned to the property room.
The detective never made any formal complaints about these allegations until November 2013, after a heated argument with McCrary at the end of October, according to the report. The detective and her partner were assigned to investigate a fatal hit-and-run crash on Little Richmond Road on Oct. 19. Both detectives noted it was unusual for them to be involved in a traffic investigation.
On Oct. 28, the detective and McCrary reportedly engaged in a shouting match in the middle of the police station after it was discovered Dayton Police Officer Erica Cash was potentially connected to the suspect in the crash, and may have hindered the investigation. The detective wanted to interview Cash, but was instructed by McCrary not to. The detective told an investigator she perceived she was being told not to investigate Cash due to a personal relationship between Cash and another Trotwood police supervisor. However, that supervisor told Duwel he was asked to allow Dayton police's internal affairs investigators to question Cash rather than Trotwood detectives, and McCrary was following up on that request, according to the report.
McCrary reportedly questioned the detective's competency and ability to follow orders during the dispute. Multiple officers witnessed or heard the argument, and had to be broken-up by a police captain. The next day after the argument, McCrary reportedly took the detective into a conference room, telling Duwel he wanted to "re-establish a cordial working relationship with Watson." He told her he wanted to give her a gift card for going above and beyond— a token sometimes given by the department. However, the detective said she felt it was merely an attempt to placate her. She told McCrary she wanted to be re-assigned to the road patrol, and made her
equest known to Wilson stating she could not work with McCrary anymore. A human resources representative was then called, and the detective filed a formal complaint against McCrary, the report indicated.
Duwel concluded the detective's claims were credible and indicated that McCrary should not work in a supervisory role in the department.
"If the department decides to retain him in a non-supervisory role, he should be advised to the extent possible to stay away from (the detective) and that his very next misstep will result in his termination," he said in the report.
McCrary signed a "Last Chance Agreement" in 2009 following the investigation that found he'd sexually harassed co-workers between 2006-2008. The agreement, executed by the city of Trotwood and McCrary's union, The Ohio Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, indicated that "any proven further instances of workplace harassment" would result in McCrary's termination. However, the agreement expired in July 2009.
He will have to go through a disciplinary hearing with the department and city manager. However, a date for that hearing has not been set, said Capt. John Porter.