Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2010

Bailey to remain on suspension; another North Myrtle Beach officer resigns

NORTH MYRTLE BEACH -- (Note: This story was updated after Wednesday's edition of The Sun News was published).

Police Sgt. Eric Lewis, a 21-year veteran of this city’s public safety department, resigned this week.

Lewis – who has been critical of actions taken by some city officials and considered running for mayor last fall – is at least the fifth police officer who has resigned or been fired since November’s election.

City spokeswoman Nicole Aiello said he “voluntarily resigned” but did not say why. His resignation takes effect Friday.

Lewis was critical of Mayor Marilyn Hatley and William Bailey, the city’s former public safety director, during conversations that were secretly recorded by former police Lt. Randy Fisher. Those conversations were published by The Sun News on Sunday.

Aiello said the city “took no disciplinary action against Mr. Lewis because of his part in any of Randy Fisher’s taped conversations or because of any reference to him in The Sun News article on Sunday.’’

Lewis could not be reached for comment.

Bailey warned officers weeks before the election that there soon would be a large number of firings and resignations, “because of some people’s attitudes.”

Bailey, during a meeting of department leaders that was recorded by Fisher, told the officers to familiarize themselves with Victory Lane in Conway .

“I just want to make everybody aware of where Victory Lane is,” Bailey told the officers. “The only thing located over there is the unemployment office.”

Bailey was demoted to lieutenant last month following his admission that he lied to City Manager John Smithson about a crime. State investigators also are reviewing allegations that Bailey covered up a criminal domestic violence investigation that involved the daughter of H. Lee Brown, a top political support of Mayor Marilyn Hatley.

Bailey, who has been on unpaid leave, was scheduled to return to work this week. However, Aiello said Bailey will remain on leave until the State Law Enforcement Division determines whether it will investigate the cover-up allegations. If an investigation occurs, Bailey will remain on leave until Smithson has a chance to review the outcome of that investigation. The leave will be charged to Bailey’s accrued vacation time or taken without pay, Aiello said.

City officials have not said what Bailey’s new duties will be, and they have not responded to The Sun News’ request for his salary information. Bailey had been making $97,331 per year as public safety director. Smithson said in a news release that Bailey’s demotion will come “with a corresponding reduction in pay,” but he has not provided any specifics.

Bailey’s possible return after having admitted to lying about the theft of his police handgun has sparked heated criticism from many residents. Barefoot Resort resident Mary Ann Viverette – past president of the International Association of Chiefs of Police – said Bailey should have been fired.

“If a person in a position of authority has both lied to their boss and misled the community, it would be a travesty for a department to retain that person,” Viverette, a former police chief in Gaithersburg, Md., told Smithson in an e-mail last month.

“As a resident and someone who spent my entire career attempting to improve professionalism in law enforcement, I want nothing more for my community than to have a professional, ethical, well-trained and trusted public safety agency with strong leadership that can take it to that goal,” Viverette told Smithson.

The city’s public safety department has been in turmoil ever since Bailey admitted to lying about the handgun theft on Dec. 30. Since then, The Sun News has published a series of conversations secretly recorded by Fisher. Those conversations include officers making crude sexual remarks about female co-workers and crime victims and descriptions of Hatley, Bailey and others influencing daily police decisions based on political alliances.

Lewis can be heard on one of those recordings telling Fisher that Hatley and Bailey regularly interfered with police calls to a nightclub that Brown used to operate called H’s. Brown now operates an oceanfront bar called the O.D. Pavilion.

"When we used to have a crime or something that happened, like when H's place was open, if we had a loud music call or anything else, if you went there it was nothing strange for him [Brown] to call, uh, he'd call the mayor at two o'clock in the morning and the mayor would call Bailey and then Bailey would call us," Lewis said on the recording.

"We were getting complaints about H's place in reference to loud music, and the mayor even went over there a couple of nights, you know, when we were called in, you know, we'd get the complaints about it and it was nothing we could do about it," Lewis said.

Brown did not return a telephone call seeking comment. Hatley has disputed Lewis' statement, saying she did not receive telephone calls from Brown seeking help.

The recordings also include conversations in which Lewis considered running against Hatley in the November election. Lewis wound up not running for the mayor’s job.

Bailey’s lie centered around the Dec. 21 theft of his city-issued police handgun from a truck parked at his Little River home. Bailey initially told Smithson that he had locked the gun in the glove compartment of his truck. An investigation by The Sun News showed Bailey's truck does not have a locking glove compartment. Smithson placed Bailey on paid leave before demoting Bailey four weeks later.

The Sun News last month also published an article outlining several misleading statements Bailey made to the public following a wildfire last year that destroyed dozens of homes in the Barefoot Resort community.

Last week, Smithson fired police Maj. Walt Floyd and police Lt. Don Repec over sexually explicit comments made about crime victims and a female co-worker. Those comments were among the conversations recorded by Fisher.

In addition, police Sgt. Ken Kovarsky, a 16-year veteran of the department, was fired two days before Christmas. The city has not said why Kovarsky was fired.

Fisher said he started recording conversations after he suspected that Bailey was targeting him for firing because he complained about perceived unethical and improper behavior in the department.

It is legal in South Carolina to record conversations as long as at least one party knows the recording is taking place.

Fisher was forced to resign in November because city officials said he gave confidential information about an April wildfire to a resident who has been critical of the city's response to that disaster. Fisher has said he did not provide the resident with any confidential information.