vance-polombo homicide timeline
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VANCE HOMICIDE TIMELINE
I have 23 years on as a Phoenix Police Officer and over nine years as a sergeant on this
department. I have been in the Phoenix Police Departments Homicide Unit since October
4, 2004. I am the first female Homicide Sergeant ever on the Phoenix Police
Department. There are no other female Sergeants within the Violent Crimes Bureau. It
should be noted that I am currently the most senior sergeant in Homicide. Meaning I have
been in Homicide longer than any other Sergeant in the unit.
8/2004 I was assigned to the Violent Crimes Bureau Night Detective Unit and I was
being recruited by others within Homicide to put in for the upcoming Homicide process. I
was on a scene with Former Homicide Lieutenant, Mike Hoble when I told him that I was
interested in the opening the was coming up in the Homicide Unit. Lt. Hoble told me in
front of Det. Ray Roe and Det. Paul Dalton that I will not be able to beat Sgt. Doug
Hardin in the upcoming Homicide process. It should be noted that I had been a Night
Detective Sergeant for 2 years, and also after having nearly 8 years of detective caser
carrying experience. Ultimately, I did put in for the process and an outside board was
formed for the process. I finished first on the process and Kotecki ended up second.
Sergeant Doug Hardin did not make the list.
10/4/2004- I was transferred to Homicide response and I took Sergeant Tim Bryants
position when he left to go to the Gun squad. I was assigned C31. Lt. Hoble left the unit
and Lt. Benny Pina became my Lieutenant. Commander Swanson was my commander.
The first several months that I was in Homicide, I noticed that there was a division in
Homicide between the squads. I was told that this has gone on for years, mostly because
of the strong personalities and competitiveness. For the most part, my first few months
were very positive and I was treated as an equal to my peers.
Approximately, six months later Sergeant Carl Richardson retired from Homicide,
Sergeant Pat Kotecki took his place and assumed the C32 squad. The key members to
that squad were Detective Jack Ballentine and Detective Alex Feminia. I was aware of
tensions between Detective Tommy Kulesa and Detective Jack Ballentine, who were not
on the same squad. Detective Kulesa worked for Sergeant Jack Millward.
During the last half of 2005, I became aware of a problem in Homicide in 2005 when
Jack Ballentine began to give Tommy Kulesa a hard time, because Tommy did not want
to release one of his homicide departmental reports to a New Times reporter named Paul
Rubin. Tommy was concerned because the case was a high profile case involving Danny
Carbajal and the murder of his wife. It was a high profile case that he did not want
released because of the leads he had developed and he was working hard to solve the
case. Tommy firmly believed that Danny Carbajal was involved in her murder and he
feared that there was a connection between Paul Rubin and the Carbajal family. Jack was
friends of Paul Rubin and he was trying to assist Paul Rubin with his New Times story.
I became aware of the conflict because my office was near Detective Tommy Kulesa’s
and I overheard discussions about the issue.
A short time later, New Times reporter Paul Rubin was given an out of the ordinary
temporary assignment to Homicide, as a civilian New Times reporter, where he was
allowed to shadow Sergeant Patrick Kotecki and Detective Jack Ballentine and Detective
Alex Femina in Homicide. New Times reporter Paul Rubin was given free access to 620
W. Washington and allowed to go with the C32 squad on all of their Homicide call outs.
The fact that a New Times reporter was allowed to wonder the halls of Homicide
unescorted, made several detectives in Homicide uncomfortable. When I asked Lt.
Benny Pina about the situation he told me to stay out of it and that Chief Frazier already
ok’d it. Lt. Pina said did not care if it made the other detectives in the unit uncomfortable
In September 2005 I had a conversation with Lt.Pina in his office on the third floor of the
Homicide unit. During the conversation he advised me that since Sergeant Mike
Polombo was coming to the Homicide unit, everything was going to be different now.
He advised me that he used to work for Polombo and he owes him. He further stated that
it was important to him what Mike thought and that Mike had challenged him by saying;
“If you have blonde hair and a fake rack, you can have anything you want if you work for
Pina”. Pina then said “I don’t want to have any problems with Mike Polombo.” I told Lt.
Pina I didn’t know what the problem was, and that I had no idea why Mike Polombo
would say something like that. I also told Lt. Pina that I thought that was unprofessional
and that he should do something about that.
In October 2005, I was in Las Vegas at the homicide conference when I was contacted by
Detective Matt Verthein, Detective Sandra Rodriguez and Detective David Barnes. All
three of them discussed an issue that they had with reporter Paul Rubin walking around in
homicide unescorted. They also brought up the fact that they had seen Paul Rubin on the
PACE computer, in Detective Jack Ballentine’s office. Each of them told me that they
were sure that they had seen Paul Rubin on PACE while sitting at Jack’s desk. One of
them told me that they were sure they had seen him print something on the printer, and
then walk out of the unit carrying what looked like a Departmental report. Each of the
detectives I spoke to felt uncomfortable with the fact that he was accessing police
department reports. When I got back into town, I walked into Patrick Kotecki’s office and
told him about the fact that the three detectives told me directly that they had seen Paul
Rubin on PACE.
Sergeant Kotecki and I then met with Lt. Pina and we told him what the allegations were.
Sergeant Kotecki immediately wanted to know who the detectives were, and what they
had said. Sergeant Kotecki started his own investigation into the matter. He started
bringing in the detectives and challenged them on what they really saw. Ultimately, Paul
Rubin denied that he was on PACE or the fact that he took anything off the printer. Later
Jack Ballentine said that he did allow Paul Rubin on to pace so he could proof read his
reports only. However, Lt. Pina later said they did a check on the computer and
discovered Jack was on vacation at the time and his password was not used while he was
out of town. The matter was dropped and it became a stressful situation because Paul
Rubin was still allowed to continue to walk around the unit unescorted. Tension began to
rise and the unit felt more divided. All three detectives felt like Lt. Pina and Sergeant
Kotecki believed Paul Ruben more than them.
October 05, Sergeant Mike Polombo came to the unit and I transferred from C31 to C34.
Sergeant Mike Polombo was assigned to C31. Detective Ira Williams 2678 transferred to
C34 with me. Along with Ira Williams I had Kenny Porter, Dave Barnes, Ray Roe and
Paul Dalton on my squad. Both Kenny Porter and Dave Barnes worked for me in Night
Detectives and we had a very good work history. During the course of the time that I was
assigned C34 we had several high profile investigations assigned to our squad and we did
good police work.
After Mike had been there a short time, Lt. Pina came to me and asked me to give up my
White Ford Crown Victoria to Mike Polombo. Lt. Pina made the comment that Mike
was assigned a small Nissan and he needed a large car to fit into since he was bigger than
I was. Mike Polombo was assigned the Ford Crown Victoria and I was assigned the
Nissan.
May 2006 Baseline Killer Investigation becomes a full blown task force. During the
investigation, Detective Barnes is taken from C34 and placed on the task force full time
and he is assigned as Alex Feminia’s back up on the investigation. Alex came to me on
several occasions and complimented me on Dave’s performance and tenacity during the
investigation. Dave worked a lot of overtime during that investigation and yet continued
to keep his case management up to date and he also stayed in contact with the family of
his victims on his prior cases.
June 2006 the Homicide Detective process was certified and Detective Heather Cox was
number one of the list. I made contact with Lt. Pina and informed him of the fact that I
realized that Detective Cox was number one, but I had concerns about her emotional
maturity to handle the pressure of a homicide case load. I explained the fact that I had
been her supervisor on Night Detectives and that she was highly emotional on a regular
basis because of issues involving her relationships and the pressure of a caseload may be
too much for her. Lt. Pina said there was nothing we could do since she placed number
one.
Just prior to Heather coming to Homicide, Lt. Pina began to try to bring in a friend of his
to the unit named Detective Bill Miller. Although he took the Homicide process, he did
not do well in the process and he placed near the bottom. Lt. Pina had William Miller on
a temporary light duty assigned to Homicide and Lt. Pina ordered him business cards
through the VCB secretary named Diana Vasquez and instructed her to write Homicide
Detective on the cards even though he was not scheduled to transfer to Homicide because
of how he placed on the list. Several detectives made me aware of the situation,
including Detective Ray Ray. I spoke to Lt.Pina about this and told him that if we were
going to take Heather Cox off the list then she should come up first, before Miller.
Lt.Pina was frustrated that I called him on this back door philosophy and Miller stayed on
a temporary basis. A short time later, Detective Heather Cox came to Homicide and
transferred on to Sergeant Mike Polombo’s squad.
When Detective Heather Cox came to homicide, Detective Mike Meislish became her
mentor. Detective Meislish worked along side of Heather in an effort to train her.
Detective Heather Cox still came to me to talk and vent about her frustrations she had
with Detective Meislish and the pressure he put on her for her writing style. He
pressured her because she would type in things such as “the car was facing west bound”.
He told her that car’s do not have faces. I mentored Heather Cox and told her to get
through the training and do things the way Meislish wanted her to and then she could
decide for herself how she wanted to write when the training was over. I told her that if
she had any other problems she should go to her boss, Mike Polombo and she said she
was afraid to since the two of them were friends. I went to Lt. Pina and advised him of
the situation and he told me that I should encourage her to get through the training phase
of the process.
On July 2006, we had a Homicide Supervisor meeting at 620 W. Washington. Lt. Pina,
Sergeant Gil Soto, Sergeant Mike Smallman, Sergeant Jack Millward, Sergeant Polombo
and Sergeant Kotecki were all in the meeting. Lt. Pina was asking for volunteers to help
out with the Baseline Task Force. I volunteered and said that I would assist in any way
that I could. Lt. Pina said “what could you possibly do? Why don’t you go to my house
and trim my bushes? I haven’t been home for a while and my grass and bushes need to be
trimmed. That is all that you could do”. Then Lt. Pina, Sergeant Polombo and Sergeant
Kotecki all began to laugh at me. I felt ashamed and humiliated and isolated because I am
a woman. I felt like my prior experience as a Sex Crimes Detective and my Night
Detective experience I could provide some assistance with this investigation. It was clear
to everyone that the assigned supervisor’s; including Lt. Pina, were more concerned
about who was going to get credit for catching this violent offender, than actually solving
the case.
After the meeting I was told by Lt.Pina that he had an open check book because of the
Baseline Task Force and they are going to get the task force the best of everything,
including phones, laptops and anything else they want. I said “good why don’t you get
phones and laptops for the entire unit”. I then went on to explain that everyone could use
them. Lt. Pina said “no-I don’t give a fuck about anyone or anything but this case”. I
then reminded Lt. Pina that there were several other detectives in the unit that were
working their cases and I said to him that if he had an open check book now is the time to
get resources for everyone and to think of the whole unit. Lt. Pina started yelling at me
and screamed; “Karen, I don’t give a fuck about what you think, I don’t give a fuck about
any other case besides this one-I am only concerned about this fucking case and the
detectives working it.” Detective Paul Dalton was standing near me and later told me that
he heard what Lt.Pina said and he was appalled at what he heard. I walked away from Lt.
Pina and later informed Chief Kevin Robinson of Lt.Pina’s actions due to the fact that we
did not have a Commander assigned to VCB for that time period.
Sergeant Pete Fenton was assigned to Night Detectives during the initial part of the
Baseline Killer Investigation. According to Pete Fenton, he was heavily recruited by Lt.
Pina, Sergeant Kotecki and Sergeant Polombo to come to Homicide because there was
going to be an opening soon on one of the four response squads. When he asked who was
leaving, Kotecki told him that the “little blonde girl” was leaving. According to Sergeant
Pete Fenton he said they were all three talking bad about me and told him that I was
getting kicked out of the unit so he should put in for the position.
I was never part of the Baseline Killer Investigation and never kept up to date on the case.
My squad ultimately had one of the Homicide cases that was later shown to be one of the
Baseline Killer Homicides. The case involved two women who were killed while
working in the lunch wagon at 91st Avenue and Baseline. Detective Ray Roe was the
case agent felt frustrated over the unprofessionalism displayed by Lt. Pina during the
investigation. For months we did not know the M.O. of the suspect in the Baseline Killer
Investigation and we were unaware of the fact that he was using a .380 handgun. We felt
as though we should have been told about the M.O. of the suspect and type of weapon he
used. Months after the homicide occurred, it was determined that our case had the same
M.O. so it was taken from Detective Roe and assigned to the task force. Ultimately the
case was solved and the suspect was arrested and charged with homicide on this case.
July 2006, Detective Ira Williams is assigned to my squad and he found out that his old
city car that he had been driving for years was going to be replaced because it had too
many miles on it. Lt. Pina told me to tell Detective Ira Williams, a 30 year veteran, that
he was going to be getting a brand new car. Detective Williams was very excited over
the fact that he was going to be getting a new car. For three days, Detective Ira Williams
held the keys to the car in anticipation of getting it after the shop was done preparing it
for him. On the day he was scheduled to go pick it up, Lt. Pina told me to go get the keys
from Detective Williams because the keys were going to be given to Detective Jesse
Jimenez who works in ICAT. Ultimately Detective Rico Fragoso was senior to Detective
Williams so he took the car and then handed it over to one of his squad mates named
Detective Jesse Jimenez who was a junior member of the homicide unit. Detective Ira
Williams was given a 2002 Ford Crown Vic that had been assigned to Lt. Benny Pina.
Lt. Pina then took a newer vehicle. Several people on my squad felt like that happened to
Ira Williams because he was on my squad and Lt. Pina did not like me.
July 27/2006 Paul Rubin did a New Times article on the Baseline Killer Investigation and
he put a photograph Nina White’s dead body on the cover of New Times. Several people
in the unit were outraged at the article and the fact that Paul Rubin was allowed in a
crime scene. When I spoke to Lt. Pina I asked him why a reporter was allowed to access
our photos and place them on the cover of New Times. Lt. Pina told me that he did not
access our photographs, he took the photograph and then he put it on the cover of the
New Times. Lt. Pina commented that he didn’t think it was right either, but it was done
now.
August 2006. I put in the proper paperwork to go to the Arizona Homicide Investigator’s
Association conference in Las Vegas during the first week of October 2006. Lt. Pina
denied me and said that I had already been and Polombo had not so he was going to get
to go.
September 2006. Lt.Pina came to me late in the month and told me that I could go to the
conference. However, now it was too late for me to go because I cannot schedule
childcare issues last minute.
October 2006. Several people from the unit went to Las Vegas for the annual Arizona
Homicide Investigator’s Association conference. Since I was not allowed to go, and
Sergeant Mike Polombo was, I covered his squad in his absence. On the first Monday of
the conference, I received an odd phone call from Sergeant Mike Polombo where he
began challenging me on rather or not I was coming to the conference. I told him that I
was in Peoria where I lived and that I had no intention of going to Las Vegas and that I
was covering him in his absence. I also advised him that I had already missed the first
day of the conference. He said repeatedly “are you sure you are not coming?” I said yes
why do you keep asking me about this? Mike said he would tell me later, and then we
hung up.
When everyone got back from the conference several people were discussing the issues
that came up at the conference. Thomas Bertone, Bill McMahon and Detective Jennifer
Mellinger all came into my office and they were speculating on rather or not Heather Cox
and Mike Polombo were together at the conference, because no one saw them during the
evening hours of the conference. I told them that I didn’t think there was a chance
because he wouldn’t do that and I stayed out of the rumors so I didn’t hear any more
about it for a short time.
Heather began acting strangely around me immediately following the conference so I
called to check on her because she was acting so distant and I became worried about her
because of her fragile condition. When I called Heather she was curt and distant and
cold. The next day I was confronted in my office by three female employee’s who were
worried about Heather because she was acting so different. Each of the employee’s were
concerned about Heather and asked me if she was okay. I told them that I had no idea
what was going on. The three employee’s were Detective Jennifer Mellinger, Detective
Shannon Bartlet and Ryan Wesley.
On 11/13/06 Detective Jennifer Mellinger came into my office and sat down and said
“okay whats wrong with Heather”. I told her that I had tried to call her and speak with
her but I couldn’t get her to talk to me which was out of the ordinary. Detective Jennifer
Mellinger went on to say “wouldn’t it be weird if it was true about Mike Polombo and
Heather hooking up in Vegas. I said “It sounded gross and there was no way, Mike was
smarter than that and Heather wouldn’t be interested”. The same day I received a call
from Tammy Arredondo. Tammy is a supervisor in the Phoenix Police Departments
Communications Bureau and she has been a friend of mine for nearly 30 years. Tammy
began asking me about what was going on in Homicide. When I asked her what she was
talking about, Tammy said “you don’t know about Mike Polombo being with Heather in
Las Vegas? I said “no, I didn’t go to Vegas and it sounded like a bad rumor. Tammy
said it wasn’t a bad rumor and that Mike Polombo’s wife Suzanne Polombo found
hundreds of calls between Mike Polombo and Heather on their cell phone and that Mike
Polombo admitted his affair to Suzanne. I then told Tammy that I didn’t know anything
about it and Tammy said that now Mike Polombo and his wife Suzanne are in the middle
to an ugly divorce.
Since Jennifer Mellinger had just left my office a short time before, I went to Jennifer’s
cubicle and I knelt down next to her and I whispered to her that she should not speak
about the issue with Mike Polombo and Heather Cox anymore because there may be
some truth to it and its not funny because everyone is starting to act crazy. I firmly told
Jennifer to drop it and stop talking about it. It was at that time I told Jennifer that I just
went through an ugly divorce a year ago and I didn’t want to be part of it. Detective
Jennifer Mellinger then told me that she was still worried about Heather and she wanted
to go see if she was okay.
November 15, 2006. I went to a training class in Las Vegas on Positional Asphyxia. The
First day that I was at the class I received a phone call from a Police employee named
Ryan Wesley. She said she was called into Lt. Pina’s office and asked her if I was
spreading rumors about Heather Cox and Mike Polombo’s affair. She told me that she
told him that she had never heard that and then I received several other calls from various
detectives asking them about my conversations. Lt. Pina asked several people in the
Homicide unit if I had been spreading rumors about Mike Polombo and Heather Cox
having an affair.
November 20, 2006. I was pulled into Lt. Pina’s office with Lt. Benson sitting there as a
witness to a confrontation between Lt. Pina and myself. The contact was challenging,
confrontational and intimidating as Lt. Pina sat me down and asked me initially if I had
any direct knowledge of an inappropriate relationship between Sergeant Mike Polombo
and Detective Cox/Armstrong. I immediately asked Lt. Pina if I was under investigation
or if I was going to be served with a Notice of Investigation? Lt. Pina said “NO”. I then
asked if this was going to be part of my notes or ratings and he said “NO”. However it
was later put into my monthly notes with a derogatory slant to the story.
During the confrontation with Lt. Pina he said Mike Polombo and Heather Cox felt as
though I had given out Heather’s cell phone number and address to Polobo’s ex-wife. I
was enraged and offended at the accusation and I felt as though Lt. Pina was putting more
effort into this rumor allegation than he did toward a class D violation of a supervisor
inappropriately being involved with a subordinate. Lt. Pina said that the information
could have only come from me or someone in the unit because Heather Cox’s
information was sealed. I told Lt. Pina that I have never given anyone Heather
Cox/Armstrong’s personal information, and that no one has ever asked me for it.
It should be noted that Heather Cox lied during that inquiry and I later requested her lie a
Brady issue and that Heather’s personal information was not sealed at that time because I
went to the computer and looked it up and found it on a public website. Lt. Pina denied
this request. I believe that Lt. Pina, Sergeant Mike Polombo and Heather Cox wanted it
to look like it could not have come from anyone else in an effort to bring discredit to me
and to bring the attention off of them and on to me.
In that meeting, Lt. Pina made the statement that he was thinking about transferring me
out of the unit and then he made the statement that he was going to send me home while
he questioned every detective in the unit to see if I was spreading rumors about Sergeant
Mike Polombo. That is the point that I made the statement that I was demanding and
internal investigation into this allegation, and the affair, due to the fact that I was afraid
that I would not be represented fairly by Lt. Pina. He said that he did not want an interval
investigation because he wanted to take care of his own unit. He said if the Professional
Standards Bureau investigated the situation, then I would be looking at time off for this
issue. Then I asked Lt. Pina why it as more important to him to investigate this rumor
issue than to investigate the issue about Mike Polombo having an affair with his
subordinate. I also asked him why he never investigated the fact that Heather Cox had
been prodding Detective David Barnes on countless occasions, asking him if he and I
were involved in an affair. I also asked him why he never investigated the allegations or
rumors about Detective David Barnes and I in some sort of an affair. Lt. Pina made the
statement that Mike Polombo has more to lose since he was in the middle of a divorce
and mine was already finalized.
During this confrontation with Lt. Pina he told me that he had to “beat Jennifer Mellinger
up to get her to discuss the conversation that she and I had regarding Heather”. Jennifer
Mellinger told Lt. Pina that there was nothing malicious about our conversation and that
we both had genuine concern for Heather. Lt. Pina told me that he questioned several
people in the unit to see if I was spreading rumors about Mike Polombo and Heather Cox
having an affair. No one said I was except for Jennifer Mellinger, who advised him that
we both were concerned for Heather.
In my notes for November 2006 Lt. Pina mentioned the rumor investigation; however it
does not mention the fact that no one else verifies the fact that I was spreading rumors.
Lt. Pina also put into my montly notes that the other Homicide sergeants had to cover me
during the last 18 months because of my divorce which is inaccurate and biased. As one
one of four homicide response sergeants, we all cover each other during the course of the
year because of vacations and other issues. Truthfully, I took very little time off during
that time and I dove into work in an effort to stay busy during my divorce situation. I
only took time off because of vacations and medical appointments. No one covered me
because I was unable to do my job. This was never brought up to me during that time
period either. In fact, I routinely covered for the other sergeants, especially during the
Baseline Killer investigation. I took offense that this was being thrown in my face and
my divorce as capitalized on during the timeliness of the Mike Polombo Heather Cox
fiasco.
During that 18 month period of time my squad handled several high profile
investigations. I felt as though it was a tragedy that another supervisor’s indiscretion is
being thrown off and into my lap in an effort for him to take the light off of himself and
his poor decisions.
During my confrontation with Lt. Pina he told me that Heather Cox and Jennifer
Mellinger told him that I said that the only reason he didn’t like me was because I said I
had shunned his advances.
During the confrontation with Lt. Pina I told him that I felt that this was a hostile work
environment and that I felt like he was tolerating a boy’s club type of atmosphere.
I wrote an attachment to my notes and I provided it to Lt. Pina, Commander Joe Klima
and Assistant Chief Kevin Robinson. It should be noted that I still have a copy of the
notes and my attachment in my possession. Lt. Pina was visibly angry at the attachment
that I placed on my notes and told me that I violated the M.O.U. by adding something to
my notes.
It should be noted that these were the November 2006 notes were the first ones that I
received in a two year period of time while being in Homicide.
12/4/06 I received my Performance Management Guide rating from Lt. Pina, eleven
months late. In the PMG there were no deficiencies noted and I had met all of my job
duties and goals.
12/5/06. During the Homicide Unit meeting, Lt. Pina brought up the fact that he had been
investigating a rumor of an inappropriate relationship between a sergeant in the unit and
the subordinate that worked for him. He said that he concluded that the rumor was not
true and the situation was documented. He openly spoke about the negative effects of
spreading rumors and the fact that he would not tolerate such conversations in the
workplace. He again said he dealt with that person. Lt. Pina said the rumor was a lie and
there was no relationship between the two people involved.
12/27/06. Lieutenant Pina sent me an email and directed me to add a paragraph in my
detectives notes that said: “During the unit meeting on December 5, Lt. pIna informed the
entire unit that he had dealt with a rumor of an inappropriate relationship between a
sergeant and a detective assigned on the same squad. The rumor was not true, and the
situation was documented. He reminded the unit of the negative effects of spreading
rumors and the fact that supervisors would never receive preferential treatment and be
held accountable for their actions, if they were found to be out of policy”. When I turned
my employees notes in on January 3rd
, 2007 I added a paragraph similar to the above
paragraph, but I also added that Lt. Pina directed me to put that in my employees notes.
Lt. Pina gave them back to me and directed me to put exactly what he directed me to put
in each of my detectives notes and then have them sign them. I complied with his
direction and then reported this situation to my PPLSA rep.
It should be noted that Lt. Pina told me that I would be in big trouble if I didn’t have my
little protector on the fourth floor because I didn’t agree with his direction about adding
that paragraph to my employees notes.
January 2007 Lt. Pina admitted to me that he was wrong about Mike Polombo and that he
felt as though Mike had lied to him during this investigation into his affair with Heather.
He said the reason he now knows that Mike lied is because he and his wife Rose were out
to dinner at a restaurant when they ran into Mike Polombo and Heather Cox on a date just
after the big blow up in Homicide. He also told me that he was now aware of the fact
that they were living together.
1/30/07 I was pulled in to Lt. Pina’s office and he again began to confront me about an
issue Mike Polombo was bringing forward. According to Mike Polombo he found my
private cell phone number on his person cell phone bill to his wife. Mike Polombo was
enraged at the fact that I had spoken to his ex-wife. I explained to Lt. Pina and Mike
Polombo that I had spoken to his wife when she called me to discuss going to my church.
I explained the fact that Suzanne had called me to discuss the fact that I went to CCV and
her and her daughter Rachel wanted to go but it was such a big church they didn’t want to
go alone. I explained to them that I agreed to take them to church because it was the one
thing that made a big difference in my divorce. Suzanne Polombo and her daughter
Rachel met me and my boys at a nearby restaurant and she followed me to church. Lt.
Pina said that Mike made the allegation that there were phone calls made between
Suzanne Polombo and I during on duty time. Lt. Pina then told me not to speak to
Suzanne Polombo until the divorce was final. In my January 2007 notes Lt. Pina
documented part of our conversation and then stated that I could be accused of
improperly meddling in Mike Polombo’s personal affairs. He also said he showed me a
copy of Mike Polombo’s cell phone bill. I wrote a comment on my notes clarifying the
fact that I was not meddling in anyone’s personal affairs and that I was never shown
anyone’s cell phone bill. I did admit that I had returned a couple of phone calls made to
me during that time period.
It should be noted that Suzanne Polombo told me to watch my back because she heard
Mike Polombo vow to have me fired before he leaves the unit and that he refers to me as
the “no good blonde cunt” repeatedly. She also advised me that she referred to Kevin
Robinson as a “token nigger” on a regular basis.
March 2007. A new car was being brought into the unit and Lieutenant Pina told all of us
in a supervisors meeting that a new car was given to the unit and he wanted to know who
wanted the car. I immediately spoke up for Detective Ray Roe and I asked for the car
because Ray was one of the most senior members in the unit and he has been waiting for
a car. I also explained the fact that Ray has been driving a 1998 truck and he deserves
this vehicle. Lt. Pina agreed and said he would look into it. No one else spoke up and so
I thought it was settled. After the meeting, Sergeant Kotecki went to Lt. Pina and asked to
give the vehicle to Detective Jack Ballentine even though he was junior in the unit to
Ray. He said he felt like Jack was a better detective and earned the vehicle. Jack
Ballentine had a 2000 truck that had been repainted in recent months and Ray’s car was
clearly older. Lt. Pina never brought it up again and then Ray Roe said Jack Ballentine
driving the new car the next day. When I asked Lieutenant Pina about why he skipped
Ray and gave it to Jack Ballentine, he smiled and laughed at me and said “Karen, you
know Jack Ballentine is the Mayor of Homicide”. I explained that I felt like that was
uncalled for and that it deviated from the past practices on how cars were handed out. He
again said “Jack Ballentine is the Mayor of Homicide and Ray isn’t”.
Detective Ray Roe went to go see Lt. Pina himself about the car situation and Ray was
told the same thing. During that meeting, Lt. Pina began speaking derogatory about me
in front of Detective Ray Roe. According to Detective Ray Roe, he told me that it made
him feel very uncomfortable and he told Lt. Pina that he didn’t feel as though it was right
to be told the negative things about his supervisor. According to Detective Roe, the
meeting was terminated a short time later.
It should be noted that Jack Ballentine came to see me about the vehicle situation and
asked me why it upset me. I told Jack Ballentine that I felt like he knew why it upset me
and that he was driving a car that should have been assigned to Ray Roe. A couple of
months later, Jack Ballentine gave Ray Roe the car just before he retired to go work for
the Fire Department.
4/11/07. I was given my 1/13/2007 Performance Management Guide by Lt. Pina and he
gave me all positive comments and also said I met all overall performance expectations.
4/16/07 Homicide Detective Joe Petrosino told me that he was at coffee with Mike
Polombo and Mike Meislish and they were openly talking negatively about me and the
fact that I don’t know what I am doing. According to Joe Petrosino, Mike Meislish ws
openly talking about the 22nd
Avenue impound lot and the fact that it was a mess. They
were speaking about the fact that I had never written a grant, and that the lot was a mess.
I immediately went to Lt. Pina and complained about the fact that a supervisor was
speaking about me negatively and the fact that there had been a lot of negative talk about
me and it seemed to have been tolerated by him. I also wanted to discuss the 22nd
Avenue lot issues at the next supervisor’s meeting. I also informed Lt. Pina and Sergeant
Polombo that I was having problems with Detective Mike Meislish leaving vehicles in
the 22nd
Avenue impound lot for extended periods of time. Mike Meislish left a couple
of vehicles in the lot for nearly a year; which violates the department’s guidelines on
vehicle storage. Lt. Pina and Mike Polombo never made Meislish get the vehicles out
when I brought it to his attention.
4/18/2007 At the supervisor’s meeting I explained the fact that the grant for the 22nd
Avenue lot was not moving forward because we did not have enough land available at
3032 S. 22nd
Avenue and that I was working with PMB on vehicle storage so we could
free up some of the space to the rear of 22nd
Avenue to build on at a later date.
5/24/07 I had been told on numerous occasions that Detective Jennifer Mellinger was
speaking negatively about me and the fact that she was saying “everyone knows that
Sergeant Karen Vance and Detective Dave Barnes have been fucking, and she is his
boss”. I had told Lt. Pina on numerous occasions that I wanted that sort of talk to stop
and it was still going on.
On 5/24/07 at approximately 2000 hours I walked up to Detective Mellinger and I asked
her “Jennifer can I please talk to you for a minute?” Jennifer agreed, and then I said
calmly “please stop talking about me”. She became defensive and said I could ask you to
do the same. I told her that I wasn’t and that several people had told me what she was
saying and I was just asking her to stop. Then I left the building. Detective Lois Weiss
was seated nearby and heard the conversation.
5/25/07 I was in my office and I overheard Sergeant Kotecki in his office speaking to
Sergeant Andy Hill and other detectives. He was gloating over the fact that I screwed up
the night before and now I was going to be kicked out of the unit. I tried to speak to Lt.
Pina about it and he refused to discuss the issue with me. He would not talk to me about
anything, including the case we were working involving a 14 year old boy from 1305 W.
Cocopah. Lt. Pina would only talk to Jose Cisneros about the case and ignored me when
I tried to talk to him. Lt. Pina was disrespectful toward me in front of Kenny Porter and
Jose Cisneros.
5/25/07 I then went to see Commander Klima and I said that I heard all of the commotion
about last night involving Mellinger and that I wanted to discuss it. He said that he heard
it and he felt that I had messed up bad. Comander Klima then gave me a directive not to
talk to Jennifer Mellinger. I then went to PPSLA and spoke to Sergeant Dave Wilson. I
advised them of the situation and the history of the problems in Homicide.
5/26/07 Lt. Lauri Burgett told me that Sergeant Kotecki told Sergeant Andy Hill that I
was being kicked out of the unit because I confronted Mellinger the night before.
I was later told that Sergeant Kotecki took Jennifer Mellinger to Professional Standards
Bureau and asked for an investigation for a hostile work environment on me because of
my conversation with Jennifer. I never received an N.O.I. on this incident and PSB never
questioned me about it.
It should be noted that I later had a meeting with Lt. Pina, Commander Klima and they
directed me not to talk to any detectives unless they work for me. They stated that I had
to go to Lt. Pina or the supervisor if I had any issue with any detective in the unit. There
was never any documentation into this incident in my notes or PMG’s.
August 7, 2007. We responded to a Police Involved shooting at 5200 E. Patrick where
supervisors from Desert Horizon precinct were involved. Detective Mike Polk assisted
my squad with the shooting because we were short staffed. While I appreciated his
assistance, there were some problems with it because he left some critical evidence
behind during the search warrant. I also had an issue with the fact that Mike Polk left
some of the evidence in the temporary storage for more than a week and his supplement
was not done yet. Since it was an in jail it was critical to get it done in a timely manner.
August 15, 2007. Since I had been told not to discuss issues with other detectives in the
unit; I sent an email to Mike Smallman and Lt. Pina pointing out the issues I had with
Mike Polk and the fact that I felt like my hands were tied because of the Jennifer
Mellinger incident. I was later confronted with the email from Lt. Pina and told it was
unprofessional. I spoke to Lt. Pina and informed him that I felt like he was trying to
interfere with my abilities to supervisor and that he was tying my hands. I told him that I
thought that this was all being directed at me and it was putting me in a no win situation.
I still have a copy of my notes and my original email which is clearly not unprofessional.
September 2007. During the Officer Erfle Homicide Investigation which occurred on
9/18/07 I left my radio in Detective Mike Polk’s assigned city car during the time I rode
with him to take two 101 witnesses home in Tempe. My radio was missing for weeks
and I could not find it. Ultimately I found out that Heather found it in Mike Polk’s
vehicle and she knew it was mine so she gave it to Sergeant Mike Polombo who hid it
from me in his office for weeks. Detective Kenny Porter overheard Sergeant Mike
Smallman talking about it and knew I was looking for my radio so he called them on it.
Sergeant Mike Smallman opened Mike Polombo’s office and got it out and gave it to
Kenny Porter to give to me. Mike Polk, Mike Polombo, Heather Cox and Mike
Smallman all knew that I was missing my radio and they hid it in Mike Polombo’s office.
September 2007: Lt. Benny Pina came in to my office and closed the door. He asked me
if he could speak to me privately. I asked him what he wanted. Lt. Pina came in and
apologized for all that he had done to me the last year and a half. Lt. Pina said he was
getting ready to be promoted but he was told by Chief Frazier that he had to get things
straight with me first. Lt. Pina apologized to me several times for his unfair treatment of
me and he went on to say he knew that it wasn’t right and he also knew that he had been
lied to by Polombo about his affair. I told Lt. Pina that I didn’t care about the affair and
that I never did. I explained the fact that I didn’t like the fact that they had treated me
unfairly through the process and the fact that it was because I was a woman and Mike
Polombo did not like me. Lt. Pina agreed with me and said he was sorry again. Lt. Pina
said he hoped we could get through this and that I would forgive him.
September 2007; As me and my squad were returning to the office from lunch; I held the
north side doors open for them to walk through. Just as they were walking in, Lt. Pina
was walking out. As I held the door open with my left hand; I held a drink in my right
hand. Lt. Pina walked up to me and looked down at my chest and he scraped some salsa
off of my right breast area. He scraped it with his fingernail and said, “looks like spilled
here”.
October 2007 Lt Pina gets promoted to Commander and he is assigned to Cactus Park
Precinct.
10/11/07. Lt. Knott’s first day in the unit and I immediately approached him and
discussed some past issues we had with the crime lab. Lt. Knott gave me positive
comments in my notes about the way I brought the issues forward.
10/15/07 Lt. Knott said he wanted to see Dave Barnes notes because he believed he was
inappropriate with an email that was sent to the County Attorney in reference to the Lab
issues. This email involved a long history of problems that he had with the lab and Lt.
Pina was aware of the problems with the case along with the history, and he was cc’d on
everything. Both Lt. Pina and Lt. Knott had been brought up to speed on the issues and
there were problems with the lab on this issue. Lt. Knott implied that there was a long
history of problems with Dave being unprofessional and yet this had never been brought
to my attention in the past. In fact, I did document the problems in Dave’s notes and I
kept my Lt informed. I documented this incident in Dave’s notes and advised him not to
send any more confrontational emails.
10/18/07 Det. Barnes is sent to PSB for a misconduct investigation. I was told to stay out
of it and that I could not discuss the issue with him at all. The allegations were later
unfounded and Dave was told it was brought forward by Mike Polombo.
10/18/07 Met with Lt. Knott and discussed personnel issues and the rumors in the unit. I
advised him that I felt like it had been a boys club type of mentality and it made me
uncomfortable. I brought forward issues that kept coming up in regards to Mike Meislish
and Mike Polombo talking negatively about me and I wanted him to address my
concerns.
10/22 I submitted Detective Barnes PMG to Lt. Knott and I had already put the email
incident in Dave’s PMG. Lt. Knott later commented on how he appreciated that. (It
should be noted that Lt. Knott later stated that he had to tell me to do that).
December 2007. Lt Knott spoke to me and stated that he felt like I would be better suited
to be a Cold Case Sergeant, and that he thought about moving me. I explained to Lt.
Knott that I did not want to go to Cold Case and that I would not accept that transfer.
When I asked him what the basis was; he said that he had been briefed about all of the
problems in the unit and felt like it would be best. I was never moved and it was not
brought up again.
February 2008. I advised Lt. Knott that I wanted to be part of the selection process for the
upcoming Response Sergeant opening. Sergeant Mike Smallman is retiring so there is
going to be an opening. He advised me that he had already selected someone else. When
I said that I didn’t agree with that since I was now going to be senior in the unit; Lt. Knott
told me that he made the decision based on some past time management issues.
One of the many responsibilities the response squad sergeants have is case reviews.
These reviews are done in an effort to bring open (unsolved) cases up from the year prior
and we are instructed to go over the cases to check on case management and solvability.
We are also instructed to read the report and see if anything is missing. During the first
part of 2008 I was assigned a departmental report to review. (2007 70-082898). The case
was assigned to Heather Cox. The incident occurred on January 12, 2007 at 4420 S. 8th
Place. The victim was 15 year old Anthony Sanchez. In reading the report; I noted
several problems with the report including: the original report was only 7 sentences long
and did not include any of the standard information documenting the briefing or who was
there and what their responsibilities were. There were ten open supplements with almost
no information on them. With the little bit of information that was in the report, it was
clear that there were suspect leads. A cell phone was left at the scene and no follow up
was done on the phone or who it belonged to. The suspect leads were never followed up
on and the suspect vehicle information was never looked in to. Supplement #48 stated
that there was a filestop placed on the vehicle, however no filestop was currently in the
system. No photo line up was ever shown to eye witnesses. I did the case review on this
case and gave a copy to Sergeant Smallman and to Lt. Knott. Lt. Knott did nothing with
the information I gave him and later said that he should not have given me a case review
to do on one of Heather’s cases.
March 2008. Joe Petrosino advised me that he has heard Mike Polombo talk bad about
me on several occasions and that Mike Polombo calls me Dave Barnes pull toy. I
advised Lt. Knott of the situation and he never dealt with the situation.
April 1, 2008. I received my Performance Management Guide Review from Lt. Knott
three months late. In my PMG I received positive comments and a met performance
rating on my job duties and goals.
April 10, 2008. Lt Knott brought me in to his office and advised me that I was going to
transfer me from C34 to C33. He said that his reason is because I am too close to my
people and he feels as though I would be more effective if I were moved to C33. I told Lt.
Knott that I did not want to be transferred and that I still believed I was an effective
supervisor. I told him that my squad and I had been working together for years and we
developed great teamwork. I also told him about all of our successful cases and the fact
that it took years to build a squad like that. Lt. Knott told me that he wanted to give my
squad to Sergeant Eric Lumley since he was a new sergeant in the unit and that he could
use an easy transition. Lt. Knott admitted that C34 is a senior squad and that C33 is
fragmented and has problems because of the prior supervisor Sergeant Mike Smallman.
Lt. Knott also reminded me that Heather was on that squad and he advised me that
Heather refused to work for me so she was going to transfer to C32 and work for
Sergeant Patrick Kotecki.
Upon assuming the C33 squad I was met with division because many of the people on the
squad were friends with Heather and they were frustrated over the fact that she was
“removed”. The members included: Detective Ernie Moreno, Detective Mike Polk,
Detective Jan Butcher, Detective Jeremy Rosenthal and Detective Cliff Jewell.
April or May 2008. Detective Mike Polk was arrested on Child Pornography charges. Lt.
Knott advised me that he knew when he put me on C33 that Detective Mike Polk was
under investigation that he was going to be arrested.
On the date that Mike Polk was arrested, he and I were in an interview with Mike Polk
alone and moments into the conversation he advised Mike that he was not free to leave
the room and that there were detectives coming in to speak to him. Lt. Knott then took
Mike Polk up to the Chief’s Office for him to be interviewed. He told me to go back to
the office and wait for him. Lt. Knott later came to me and explained what just happened
and why Mike Polk was arrested. Lt. Knott later said that he knew I was capable of
rebuilding the squad, and he knew it was going to be difficult because of the personalities
involved and the resentment they had toward me since Heather “had to leave the squad”.
Detective Joe Petrosino transferred to my squad.
May 2008 I was given the award for Employee of the month
May 29, 2008. Lieutenant Knott pulled me into his office and asked me about a
conversation that I had with Detective Al Richard. Lieutenant Knott said that he was told
by Heather that I said I told Al Richard that I did not want another Kathy Enriquez to
come to Homicide because I did not want another Heather Polombo in the unit. I told
Lieutenant Knott that I never made that statement and that I would not have said that
because Kathy Enriquez and I have a good working relationship. I also told him that
Kathy was a very strong detective and we could use her. I further stated that nothing I
said could have been taken that far out of context. I explained that the only thing I said to
Al Richard was the fact that I didn’t want anyone to know that I was thinking about
applying for the IMPACT position. Lieutenant Knott interviewed Al Richard and Kathy
Enriquez about the situation and both of them said it didn’t happen and anything I said to
Al Richard was taken out of context. I later learned that Lieutenant Joe Knott told
Lieutenant Lauri Burgett that he was going to kick me out of unit for the comment;
before he found out if it was true. She advised him that he should interview everyone
before he makes that determination. Once Lieutenant Joe Knott interviewed everyone, he
still felt like they were lying and trying to cover up for me.
On July 2, 2008 I received my notes for May 2008 Lieutenant Knott wrote:
5/29 Met with Karen today and discussed several issues.
1) Reference Al Richards/Kathy Enriquez discussion regarding me indicating to Al
she didn’t want Kathy “knowing her business” (related to homicide process).
While Detective Ramirez told me what Karen said to him, she indicated it was
taken out of context. Bottom line is I wanted Karen to know it’s another example
of “mis-communication” over a comment she made to a subordinate from another
work unit in regards to work related issues.
2) Advised her to be careful in terms of what information she releases to people
about Mike Polk’s personal life (marital situation) that I did not need to know;
point being as a supervisor she must be more cautious about info she releases to
people.
I responded to my monthly notes and added an attachment to them. In my attachment I
addressed the issues with the fact that this was not an accurate assessment of the
situation. I also noted that I felt like this was a deliberate attack against me by Detective
Polombo, and she provided Lieutenant Knott with untrue facts. I wanted this issue placed
in Detective Polombo’s notes because this was an ongoing problem and she was causing
problems in the unit and making baseless statements about me that were untrue. I also
noted that Lieutenant Knott has made the statement that he was going to kick me out of
the unit based on her false allegations. However, nothing happens to the detective who
brings those false allegations forward. This caused unnecessary interruption in all of our
schedules and it also caused me great stress because of Lieutenant Knott statements that
he was going to kick me out of the unit.
In regards to my comment to Lieutenant Knott about Mike Polk’s personal life. I was told
by a concerned detective on my squad that Mike Polk’s wife may be leaving him because
of his arrest, and the detective was concerned for Mike’s wellbeing. I wanted to advise
my supervisor because of my concern for an former employee. I felt like I should advise
my supervisor because it is covered in the Operations Orders that I should advise my
supervisor if I become aware of information that might be of concern to the department.
It should be noted that I also contacted Sergeant Rich Costenza of the departments CISM
about my concerns regarding Mike Polk. He advised me that there is nothing we can do
for Mike because he is no longer an employee of this department.
June 30, 2008. Detective David Barnes gets thrown out of Homicide by Lieutenant Joe
Knott for a misconduct investigation. Detective Barnes was then transferred to Property.
July 2008. During a Homicide Unit meeting; Lieutenant Joe Knott explained the
circumstances surrounding Detective Barnes removal from the unit. During the meeting,
Lieutenant Joe Knott makes the statement to the entire unit that Detective David Barnes
was not properly supervised, and the issues he had with the lab were never documented
by his supervisor. I was seated in the meeting and everyone looked at me because they
knew he had just thrown me down. The statement was untrue; it was just that Lt. Knott
did not like the way I documented the issues. It should be noted that multiple detectives
in the unit later came to me and addressed their dissatisfaction with Lieutenant Knott and
how he handled that issue.
During the Homicide Unit Meeting; Detective Paul Dalton asked Lieutenant Knott if it
was true that Chief Tracy Montgomery had sent an email to him suggesting he remove
Dave from the unit in an effort to silence the other Lab bashers. Lieutenant Knott said
“NO” it was taken out of context and she never said that. Many people later viewed the
email on badphoenixcops.com and they became aware of the fact that Lieutenant Knott
lied to the whole unit.
July 2008. Lieutenant Joe Knott contacts me and asked me to write him a memo on the
issue stemming from an email sent by Detective Barnes to the county attorney. The
email had a long history and Lieutenant Pina had been made aware of the history and he
received all of the emails on this case. When Lieutenant Joe Knott got to Homicide, he
was less than supportive of the issue. On July 30, 2008 I authored the memo and
explained the issues surrounding the emails, and what I did to document the issue.
July 2008 Jeremy Rosenthal was assigned to my squad. I received a phone call from a
former girlfriend of his indicating that she wanted to make a formal complaint on him. I
interviewed her and realized the allegation was extremely serious. Lt. Knott was not there
so I contacted Mike Polombo to ask him for some direction. This quickly became a PSB
investigation and it was handled by them after that.
Sometime toward the last half of 2008 Heather Polombo assaulted me by intentionally
running in to me in the hallway of the Homicide unit. I had been in the middle of going to
physical therapy on a regular basis because of my neck and shoulder issues and Lt. Knott
was aware to the fact that I was going to physical therapy three times a week. On the
morning this happened, I was carry tea in my left hand and walking down the hallway in
the unit. Detective Polombo came around the corner and intentionally shoulder chucked
me with her left shoulder into mine. She just about knocked me down and caused me a
great deal of pain. I later went to see Lt. Burgett and informed her of the situation and
asked her if I could write a memo. Lt. Burgett advised me not to worry about it because
it was probably an accident. Heather Polombo went to Lt. Knott and said I ran into her
and she felt as though I did it on purpose. I was later questioned by Lt. Knott and I
explained the fact that I would not have done that and that I thought there were cameras
installed in the unit. I asked that he pull the film and he could see what happened. Lt.
Knott said he was unaware that there were cameras in the unit. It was later dropped.
Within a couple of weeks of that incident, Lt. Knott requested me to meet with Heather
Polombo to try to sort out our differences. I agreed in an effort to get past this. We met at
the Family Advocacy center and we talked for a long time about what her issues were
with me and why people didn’t like me in the unit. She also began airing out why people
don’t like the way I supervise. She indicated that I hurt her feelings in the past while we
worked together in Nights and I told her that I felt like I supported her for a long period
of time in Nights and I never remember hurting her feelings. I apologized if I ever said
something to hurt her feelings, but clearly did not remember saying anything to hurt her. I
was then instructed by Lt. Knott not to discuss anything we discussed in the meeting.
October 22, 2008. I received a phone call from Detective Theron Quaas from the Phoenix
Police departments Special Investigations Division. Detective Quaas informed me that I
was the “focus” of an investigation and that he wanted me to come to the Family
Investigation Bureau to be interviewed. I asked Detective Quaaas if I was going to have
my rights read and he said “yes”. Initially I was going to go to be interviewed but when I
called PPSLA to speak to someone about it, no one called me back. I then called
Detective Quaas back and told him that I was not willing to be questioned criminally. I
then authored a memo and advised my supervisor of the investigation and also advised
him that I was available to be questioned by the Professional Standards Bureau at any
time regarding this inquiry.
After I gave Lieutenant Knott the memo, he called me into his office and advised me that
now everyone thinks I am guilty. He said he couldn’t tell me what to do, but he thought it
was a mistake to invoke.
October 2008. PSB came back with the internal portion of the complaint on Jeremy
Rosenthal. I was made aware of the situation and the fact that Jeremy was going to be
sent home on admin leave because of it. I advised Lt. Knott that I wanted to handle it
since he worked for me. Lieutenant Knott dismissed me and had Mike Polombo proceed
with the process with PSB (Professional Standard Bureau). It should be noted that he
was my employee and asked Lt. Knott to allow me to do this since I had never done it in
the past. Lieutenant Knott said “no, they can’t trust you”. He further stated that Mike was
going to handle it since they didn’t want anyone to know what was going on. Lieutenant
Knott said Commander Klima told him that he didn’t believe him when he told him that I
had not spoken of this situation to anyone. Lt. Knott said they put specific information
into that process that they did not want me to know about. Lieutenant Knott said that the
fourth floor asked who Jeremy’s supervisor was and when he said Vance-he quickly said
he was having Polombo handle it and they all agreed that it was best to let him deal with
it because of my issues.
November 12, 2008- I sent Lieutenant Knott an email telling him that I really needed a
Spanish speaker on my squad since Detective Ernie Moreno left and that I would like to
have Bryan Korus on my squad because he was coming off training before too long and
he had been working out well on my squad. Sergeant Mike Polombo then called
Detective Karl Martin who was now on my squad and asked him if he spoke Spanish.
Karl thought it was strange that he contacted him and said it seemed odd. Karl Martin is
not a certified Spanish Speaker. Lt Knott called me in and questioned me on the email
and asked me about Karl Martin’s abilities. I again told him that I did not have a Spanish
speaker and everyone else does. He then said Patrick Kotecki is going to get Korus on
C32 and I will try to get you Josh Champion who speaks Spanish. There was no basis for
that decision other than the fact that Patrick Kotecki wanted Bryan Korus.
12/12/08 Josh Champion came to me and told me that while he was at lunch he was
shocked to hear the way Mike Polombo talked about me in front of him and the other
Detectives on his squad. Josh said that Mike Polombo openly said I was incompetent.
Josh Champion said Mike Polombo calls Me the corporal and that Joe Petrosino is the
sergeant on the squad. Josh said Detective Brewer and Meislish were in on it as well.
I went to Lieutenant Knott and informed him of what Josh Champion said and Lieutenant
Knott said that Josh should not be spreading rumors. He then said he would say
something to Mike Polombo about it, and it was dropped.
Lieutenant Knott never listened to my complaints or the issues I brought forward about
the harassment from Mike Polombo.
2/5/09 I received my Performance Management Guide from Lieutenant Joe Knott. I
received positive comments and I met my goals and performance objectives. My overall
performance was met.
June 21, 2009. I sent Lt. a text message that I forwarded to him from Jan Butcher asking
if she could do a 48 hour interview on the Orbin trial. Lt. Knott called me and asked what
I was asking. I told him that 48 hours has been following the Orbin trial and now they
want to interview her at her work station. I told him it would not involve overtime. Lt.
Knott said he didn’t have a problem as long as PAB was okay with it. I then notified Jan
and that I had to get PAB’s approval first but that the Lt seemed okay with it. The next
day I spoke to Sergeant Tommy Thompson and I informed him of the situation. He said
he didn’t mind, but he wanted me to send an email up through the chain of command. I
then sent an email up the chain to get approval for the interview. Commander Miiller
replied that he didn’t want the interview done if the case had not been adjudicated. Lt.
Knott then acted like he did not know the case had not been adjudicated and even sent an
email out claiming he didn’t know it hadn’t been adjudicated. I felt as though Lt. Knott
was untruthful in that email because he was well aware of the circumstances surrounding
the interview and the fact that it was the Orbin trial.
I received my next notes for May on June 22nd
, 2009. My notes were all positive with no
notes performance issues.
In May I was chosen to put together the process for the new Night Detectives along with
Sergeant Eric Lumley. We put the process together and I put out the advertisement in the
Transfer Opportunity Bulletin. I ran the entire process through Lt. Knott and he
complimented me on what I had done. Ultimately we did the process and we selected five
top applicants to be on the list to come to Night Detectives.
June 24, 2009 Lieutenant Knott served me with the paperwork for a photo radar citation
and it had an error on it. It is only relevant because he states that one of the reasons he
wants me out of the unit is because of errors on my paperwork. Several Lieutenants have
commented on the fact that all of their sergeants have errors on their paperwork. Part of a
Lieutenants job is to proof read our reports. We should be working as a team. I need a
supervisor to back me up and assist me just as I support the people who work for me.
July 2nd
, 2009. The affidavit is unsealed and it is posted on line for everyone to see. In
the affidavit, several people in the unit make the statement that it has to be me or Dave
Barnes who took the name plates and sent the email because of our problems with the
Polombos. It should be noted that most of the detectives who said this in their interviews
have been mentioned in this document.
There was no basis for the allegation other than rumors and innuendos that were never
addressed by my supervisors.
7/6/09 Meeting with Lt. Knott in his office at 1500 hours.
I went to see Lieutenant Knott in his office to turn in some paperwork. When I saw him
he began bragging about his new BMW 535 and the fact that he needed to sell his truck.
Then he asked me to close the door and asked me to sit down. Lt. Knott began asking me
if I had read the affidavit yet. He then told me that he was surprised that I had not yet
come to see him. After he asked me what I thought about it, I explained to him that this
was an all time low for me and that this was a very stressful time. The fact that Polombo
had written a New Times article that included me as well as the Affidavit that implies that
I did something illegal because of rumors and innuendos brought on by people that don’t
like me. I explained to Lt. Knott that I didn’t appreciate the fact that things were said
about me that was untrue. He replied that it was because of my undying allegiance to
Dave Barnes that has harmed me. He told me that I was outspoken and supportive of
Dave and that everyone is going to remember that. He also said Dave let me down and
that he was one of the biggest liars he had ever met. He told me that Dave lied to his face
and he couldn’t prove it but he knew he was lying.
Lt. Knott then began telling me that he met with my squad and that he had a private
breakfast with them two weeks ago in an effort to see what their problem was with me
and what my issues were. He said he heard that there were some disgruntled people that
worked for me and that he wanted to find out what the problem was. He said during the
interview with them he asked them what their issues were with me and they all said they
didn’t have any personal issues with me; it was just that they wanted a stronger
supervisor who dealt with issues better. He also said that when I spoke to him about the
issues brought up by Josh, Tony and Karl, that the issues were bigger than just not getting
commendations as I had previously stated. He said that was one of the issues, but they
had complaints about my focus and my being able to pay attention to details they bring
up. He said some of them were quiet during the meeting and didn’t say much, but others
were outspoken about the fact that they wanted a sergeant like some of the others. They
said I had been preoccupied lately. I explained the fact that the issues with the
Polombo’s had been going on for some time and now it came to a head. I explained the
fact that it has been hard to focus because of all of this stress and that I will get back on
track. Lt. Knott said he felt that this has been a two year problem with me and that I get
better and then it goes back to problems. When I asked him to be specific. He pointed
out corrections the last couple of weeks with my paperwork and then he specifically
brought up a homicide call out from a year ago where he got there and I wasn’t there. He
admitted that there had been a previous call out and that he had been at both and I had not
bought my people food. I said I cannot recall ever not being at a scene. Lt.Knott said
there has never been a time that one of the other Homicide Sergeants were not at a scene
when he got there except me, that one time. I told him that I did not believe that and he
quickly came back and let me know that they were all above average and that I was
average. He ultimately told me that he felt like it would be best if I left the unit and
transferred out. He told me that he wanted me to go to Nights and have Jeremy go to
Homicide and that we could swap. I told him no! I was a single mother with sole custody
of my kids and I couldn’t go to second shift. I also told him that I was an excellent
employee and that after 23 years I didn’t deserve this. He said “see I never say I am an
excellent employee, I don’t have to I just am”. He went on to say that I was not an
excellent employee that I was average and he also said I didn’t have the strength to me a
Homicide Sergeant. He said this unit is too demanding and he felt like I couldn’t bring
my performance up to a level to be in the unit. Lt. Knott told me more than once he
wanted me to leave Homicide and that it was in the best interest of the unit. Lt. Knott told
me that he felt like the drama was beginning to subside and that he felt like to get back on
track my squad deserved a better supervisor. He said my performance was a 3 or a 4 and
that the others were a 6. Lt. Knott said he felt like I was not objective and one of the
examples he used was the fact that on the ATF 998 I came in the following day and
reported on how great the new Night detectives did on the shooting. He said how good
could they be after two days? I explained the fact that they were helpful and they had a
good attitude and for being in the unit such a short time, I felt like they did a great job.
Lt Knott said no one else comes to him to schedule the 998 debriefings and that he just
sets them up and whoever can go goes. I explained the fact that we are getting sued on
this one and I felt like he and the others should be there, so I wanted to double check with
his schedule to be sure the time was appropriate with him. He said no one ever checks
with him on anything and that I check everything and that it shouldn’t be that was with
the amount of time I have been in the unit.
Lt. Knott showed me how I had attached the DR to a case review and that he didn’t want
the DR, he only wanted the cover sheet. He also said he has told me that he didn’t want
the whole DR attached in the past. I explained to him that there were some issues with
that review and I wanted him to see the issues.
I emailed Dave Faulkner on 7/7 and asked to have a meeting with him and he responded
to my email on 7/8 and agreed to meet with me.
7/8/09 I was pulled into Lt.Knott’s office and asked to close the door again. He
immediately asked me if I had a conversation with Jan Butcher about him wanting me out
of the unit. I advised him that Jan walked into my office and saw that I was upset. When
she asked me what was wrong I told him that I was upset that he had asked me to leave
the unit. Lt. Knott said this further cements his opinion that I do not belong in the unit.
He said that I should not have told her that because she is a subordinate and it was not
right to tell her that. He said that I have too comfortable relationship with my guys and
that I am not a strong enough supervisor for homicide. Lt. Knott said he felt like I could
not meet the demands he was going to expect of me. Knott said he didn’t think I was
going to be successful and that the hurdle was now too high for me to get over.
Lt. Knott then told me that Pat Kotecki feels like Dave Barnes could have been a star
employee, but because I was his boss he was ruined and it is tragic that his talent was
wasted with a weak supervisor. He said Patrick and he had discussed the issue and they
all feel like I am an ineffective supervisor because of my friendships with my employees.
Several of my employees stated that the breakfast that Lt. Knott made them
uncomfortable and they didn’t think it was right. They stated that they felt intimidated,
and they said it was weird. The fact that all of them have less than 20 years on and
several of them have not completed their probationary year in Homicide made them feel
nervous. According to the detectives who were there, they stated that the only issue they
brought forward was the fact that I was preoccupied during my move and they want to
see more commendations. None of them have a personnel issue with me and none of
them want me to lose my position in Homicide. According to detectives who were there,
Lt. Knott made the statement “well I don’t have enough to kick her out of the unit, but we
will see how it goes”. Several of them quickly stuck up for my and said it seems wrong.
Lieutenant Knott told me during our meeting on June 8th
that none of the other sergeants
in the unit want me to cover for them when they go on vacation. He said they all have
had complaints about me and they doubt my abilities to manage a scene. He went so far
as to say they were pissed at the thought of me covering their squad in their absence.
When I spoke to Sergeant Lumley and Sergeant Lanning, they both denied ever saying
that to Lieutenant Knott. Both Sergeant Lumley and Sergeant Lanning said they would
use me anytime to cover their squad in their absence.
.
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