Lampela found not guilty of aggravated menacing

PORT CLINTON — A judge ruled today that former Put-in-Bay police chief Robert "Ric" Lampela is not guilty of aggravated menacing, the lone remaining charge in his criminal trial.

Visiting Judge James Hoover, retired from Crawford County, also found Lampela not guilty of a lesser included charge of menacing, but guilty of a "further lesser included charge" of disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor. Lampela was fined $150 plus court costs.

Hoover had found Lampela not guilty Wednesday on two of the original four misdemeanor counts, dereliction of duty and falsification, during the bench trial that began Tuesday in Ottawa County Municipal Court. An original count of falsification was dropped Tuesday.

Hoover announced after the defense rested its case and both sides gave their closing arguments Wednesday that the state was unable to prove those two charges beyond a reasonable doubt. He said because there are so many theories that are equally plausible with regards to those counts, the state did not meet the necessary burden of proof.

PIB ex-chief Lampela cleared on 2 counts, trial resumes

The aggravated menacing charge stemmed from a 2010 incident in which Lampela took his gun out of the holster, emptied it and held it pointed in the air near a former a Put-in-Bay police sergeant when quizzing him about the Second Amendment.

Hoover announced the not guilty verdict after the trial resumed at 2 p.m. today.

Defense calls witnesses

On Wednesday, the defense called its first witness, Tavis Campbell, an officer with the Hudson Police Department who was a Put-in-Bay police officer from 1997 to 2007, eventually reaching the rank of lieutenant.

As part of his responsibilities as a lieutenant, Campbell sat in on job interviews of along with then-chief Lampela, which included a time when one of the alleged victims was interviewed.

She testified Tuesday that her relationship with Lampela was “terrible” from the first day, noting that during her interview for a job as an officer on the island, Lampela called the other alleged victim “the whore of the department.”

Campbell, who was in the room during that interview, testified that the chief never said that, nor did he ever hear Lampela refer to any officer as a “whore” in any interview.

“If he would have made a derogatory comment, I would have remembered that, because it would have made me uncomfortable,” Campbell said.

The defense called Steve Spurrier, an agent of Air and Marine with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, as its second witness.

In 2003, Spurrier was a special agent with U.S. Coast Guard. He investigated an incident that year in which two Miller Ferry boats on the island were untied, released and set adrift.

Spurrier sought interviews with the two female officers to question if they were possibly involved in the ferry incident, but was only able to speak with one of the women.

He testified that she claimed in 2003 to have evidence of public corruption against Lampela, but she never gave this evidence to him, later claiming that “ninjas” stole it.

He also testified that, during this talk about the Miller Ferry incident, the woman informed him that she was “roofied and possibly assaulted” and he advised her to report it to the Ottawa County Sheriff’s Office.

Upon cross-examination, Spurrier said he did tell special prosecutor Margret Tomaro in a phone conversation that he found it “interesting” Lampela would turn in two female officers for the ferry incident, and that one of them would make an allegation of public corruption.

The case regarding the released Miller Ferry boats was closed as unsolved.

Lampela takes the stand

As the last witness called in the trial, Lampela took the stand to testify in his own defense.

He described the kind of police department he was trying to build at Put-in-Bay, which was unique because it is an island with a permanent population of only around 400, but more than a million people could visit during the summer.

This meant many of the police officers were hired as seasonal employees, from Memorial Day until Labor Day, leading to many officers being hired straight out of the police academy making a minimum wage.

“When I went to the Put-in-Bay police department, there had been a lot of issues in the department before I got there,” Lampela said. “We need to transform this police department because it has serious issues with it.”

Lampela said he concentrated on making it an educational, teaching police department, as many officers use it as a springboard for careers in law enforcement.

With a police officer’s most fundamental role being to guard the public’s rights, he described in his testimony, he would routinely quiz all of the officers who worked under him on the Bill of Rights, among other things also taught at police academy.

He said he considered this as especially important for his full-time, year-round staff, because they supervise the newer officers in the summertime.

“It’s a reflection on me,” Lampela said. “When an officer doesn’t do something right, I haven’t taught them appropriately.”

He testified that former Put-in-Bay police sergeant Jeff Herold, after seven years with the department, still wasn’t answering what the Second Amendment was.

Lampela said that was why he took his pistol out of the holster, emptied it and pointed it in the air during the 2010 incident when he was asking Herold about the amendment again with a raised voice.

In an audio recording of the incident, Herold can be heard telling Lampela what just happened scared him. The then-chief responds by saying it was meant to “impress” upon him what the Second Amendment was.

Upon cross-examination, Lampela insisted he was not angry during the incident, but he was frustrated.

Tomaro asked Lampela about his shouting heard on the recording.

“My tone is always louder than normal,” Lampela said.

Tomaro noted that in the Put-in-Bay Police Department's policy and procedure manual, which Lampela had a hand in writing, under the use of force section it states officers are prohibited from pulling their weapon unless they intend to use it.

Tomaro asked Lampela if he agreed that the implication of the rule is that there is no other reason for an officer to pull their weapon unless they are in a use of force situation, which Lampela replied is not true.

“I’ve never pulled a weapon on an officer,” he said.

He also testified that the gun was not flailing around, but remained safe near his own head during those Second Amendment questions, and no one could have been shot by his weapon during that incident.

However, the only other year-round officer employed by the department at the time, Matthew Plesz, was also in the room with Lampela and Herold. On Tuesday, Plesz testified that the then-chief's actions were concerning enough to him that he felt the need to put his hands on his own weapon, press the holster's release button and was prepared to draw on Lampela “if need be.”

1 of 4 charges in trial of ex-chief Lampela dismissed

The 2010 gun incident was among several of the reasons Put-in-Bay Village Council voted 4-1 to fire Lampela, who had been chief since 2002, following a hearing in August.

During that hearing, Herold was also called to testify. At that time, he testified that he was not in fear for his life during the incident.

On Tuesday, Hoover asked Herold if he ever thought Lampela was going to shoot him.

“No, I didn’t think so,” Herold answered.

Defense attorney Angelo Lonardo reiterated both of those statements from Herold's sworn testimony during closing arguments.

jstinchcom@gannett.com

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