Two MANCI guards demoted for sexual misconduct
MANSFIELD – Two correction lieutenants at the Mansfield Correctional Institution have been demoted for inappropriate sexual advances while on duty, and two corrections officers who were the object of their actions have resigned.
The lieutenants demoted were Charles Bise and Billy Ross, according to state records.
According to a spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, both women resigned, one on April 28 and the other on June 20.
On April 20, MANCI Warden Alan Lazaroff informed Lt. Charles Bise in writing that he was being demoted for unsatisfactory job performance during a probationary period as correction lieutenant.
A probationary employee duly removed or reduced for unsatisfactory service does not have the right to appeal the demotion under Ohio Revised Code, the warden stated in a letter to Bise, which The News Journal obtained through a public records request.
“During the months of February and March 2015, you exchanged numerous sexually explicit emails with a female correction officer under your supervision, using the State of Ohio email system. Several of these exchanges occurred during your regular scheduled work hours,” Lazaroff wrote.
Bise, who is a 191/2-year employee with the DRC and a three-year employee with MANCI, had been a lieutenant since November 2014 and had been on third shift since Feb. 22, according to state records.
He was suspended five days from his position as correction lieutenant, according to state records. Bise was informed he had violated the standards of employee conduct.
Bise acknowledged having a sexual relationship with a female corrections officer but told prison investigators that nothing occurred on state time or state property. He acknowledged sending and receiving sexually explicit emails to the officer on his state email account, according to a notice of disciplinary action from Lazaroff, dated March 13 of this year.
According to the investigation summary to the warden, an investigator wrote: “Upon review of Lt. Bise’s email it was determined that he used his state issued email to send numerous inappropriate emails of a sexual nature to his wife’s cell phone, and (a female corrections officer’s) state issued email, his female neighbor’s cell phone and one unknown cell phone. Additionally, all the subjects listed above responded to his state email which also contained inappropriate emails with sexual content.”
During a recorded interview, Bise said that he knew the corrections officer and that he did supervise her during the time they were sexually involved but added that the sex was a one-time deal and their relationship started before he was a lieutenant.
Bise returned to work the first shift at the prison on Ohio 13 on April 26, according to MANCI records.
In a second unrelated incident at MANCI, Lt. Billy Ross on March 30 was demoted to his previous position as a corrections officer for unsatisfactory job performance during his probationary period as a correction lieutenant.
On Dec. 29, he was alleged to have subjected a female corrections officer to unwanted sexual advances. In addition, he was in possession of tobacco and shared cigarettes with the female officer, according to a notice of disciplinary action from Lazaroff, dated March 13.
Ross, who has 16 years in corrections, also was suspended five days from his position as correction lieutenant.
The corrections officer in the course of the investigation made allegations that Ross had on Dec. 29, 2014, pinned her to a wall in a control center and kissed her on the cheek. She said that, afterward, he continued sending her emails and calling her on the phone for issues that were not work-related, according to state records.
The state executed a truth verification examination on the woman, with the scope of the truth verification examination limited to the female corrections officer’s honesty as it relates to the events surrounding Ross on Dec. 29, 2014. The results of the test were that no deception was indicated, according to state records.
The investigations conducted included detailed emails, interviews, cellphone numbers, logs and more.
lwhitmir@nncogannett.com
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Twitter: @LWhitmir