Former officer seeks reinstatement after termination

CLYDE — A former Clyde police officer has filed a grievance against the city seeking reinstatement after he was fired for alleged personal use of a fingerprinting machine in March.

Troy Keegan, a 19-year veteran, was terminated Oct. 2 by Clyde City Manager Paul Fiser for workplace misconduct stemming from an alleged incident in which Keegan used a department computer to fingerprint himself to apply for a private security teaching job.

If the case goes to arbitration, Keegan said he hopes the panel of arbitrators will rule in his favor so he can rejoin the force.

"I bleed blue," Keegan said Tuesday when asked what outcome he is hoping for.

Keegan's union representative, Adam Maguire, said he is dumbfounded as to why the city is seeking criminal charges against Keegan because the cost of the fingerprints totaled $54.

In a termination letter obtained by The News-Messenger on Tuesday, Fiser said Keegan violated the standards to police officers are held accountable.

In June, Clyde police sent a news release alleging Keegan told a supervisor who helped him scan the fingerprints that they were for officer training certificates.

"You signed an oath of office in which you swore to 'honestly, faithfully and impartially execute the duties of police patrolman,'" Fiser wrote. "You violated these standards when you used police department equipment for personal gain and used taxpayer funds to do so. Stealing taxpayer funds, in any amount, is unacceptable."

Both Fiser and Police Chief Bruce Gower declined to comment further on the termination, saying Keegan has filed a grievance and is facing criminal charges. Keegan's jury trial is scheduled for 8 a.m. Jan. 14 in Sandusky County Common Pleas Court.

Maguire said the fingerprint issue could have been settled as a labor dispute, not a criminal case, and shows that the city is singling out the former officer.

"You (city) seek criminal charges for $54 and you're going to pay tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees," Maguire said. "Is this what Clyde's all about?"

Maguire also said Keegan's predisciplinary hearing was held in June and that nothing has changed since then, saying the abrupt termination seems like an attack on Keegan.

The city placed Keegan on paid leave June 22 following a review of the department's receipt book. Gower said the two fingerprint scans were not paid for and were marked for law enforcement use.

Due to pending litigation, Keegan declined to comment further Tuesday, referring questions to his attorney, James Murray of Sandusky.

"I look forward to having Troy exonerated in court. These charges are unfounded and are a clear mistake," Murray said. "He should be reinstated."

Because the prints were not for department use, Gower said Keegan should have paid the $54 after he took the prints on March 10 and 11.

Maguire said Keegan offered to pay the fee for the fingerprints, but the offer was declined.

"I have never seen anything like this before in my life," Maguire said. "The taxpayers should be irate that this is how the city is using their resources for $54."

Clyde police said in the June news release that "watching in-house camera systems, we watched Keegan fingerprint himself and then he had to do it the next night with the assistance of his supervisor."

Maguire said the grievance is the second filed by Keegan this year, and that he hopes to have a panel of arbitrators hear the grievances before Keegan's criminal jury trial in January.

Keegan filed the previous grievance after being placed on a 60-day suspension without pay in March for withholding information about an investigation into former police officer Ryan Robinson and his knowledge that Robinson allegedly provided alcohol to a minor.

A review of Keegan's personnel file show several reprimands including tardiness, not properly writing traffic citations and having too many "irons in the fire" outside of work.

During his career, Keegan was recommended by Gower to train as a Drug Abuse Resistance Education, or DARE, officer because he considered Keegan a good role model for students.

Fiser wrote in the termination letter that Keegan was given his last chance to improve his behavior to keep his job and that any additional insubordination could result in termination after the March suspension. He said the alleged use of the fingerprint machine violated Keegan's final warning.

"Your repeated inappropriate behavior, theft of public funds, dishonestly in deed and words is inappropriate and can (no) longer be tolerated," Fiser said in the letter.

cshoup@gannett.com

419-334-1035

Twitter: CraigShoupNH