By Amanda Seitz
Dayton Daily News
DAYTON, Ohio — A Lebanon Correctional Institution worker allegedly derailed a months long criminal probe into drug dealing at the prison when he accessed confidential files and alerted co-workers about the investigation, state records show.
When state officials tried to fire Marc Spencer, the corrections officer they believe thwarted the investigation, the prison worker’s union decried state officials’ allegations and brokered a deal last month for him to get a $20,000 payout to resign from his post. Under the settlement, which was reached after three months of negotiations, he is not allowed to be rehired by the state.
“The settlement was reached and we’re not happy about having to settle,” said JoEllen Smith, the spokeswoman for the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, which employed Spencer.
This newspaper obtained copies of a 120-page investigation report that shows state officials spent roughly five months investigating prison employees for dealing to inmates at the prison and figuring out how and why their investigation went sour.
Spencer, who was never criminally charged over the suspicions, maintains the allegations against him are false and that the state paid him $20,000 to resign proves he wasn’t involved in any wrongdoing.
“That’s obvious — why would they pay me a $20,000 settlement?” Spencer said of the state’s allegations. He declined to comment further on the investigation or his resignation, which took effect in November. Spencer made $20.53 per hour at the time of his resignation.
Corrections officials have been cracking down on suspicions of drug dealing at the prison, which employs more than 500 staffers and is home to roughly 2,600 inmates. In a separate investigation last year, two Lebanon prison workers were arrested for using, manufacturing and selling illegal anabolic steroids outside of prison walls. Both employees have since pleaded guilty to the charges.
Just last month, 3.2 percent of 1,438 Ohio inmates who were randomly drug tested showed positive for drug use, according to state officials.
Investigation termination
Investigators with the Ohio Highway Patrol and Lebanon Correctional Institution began monitoring select staffers, inmates and their family members at the prison for dealing drugs and tobacco to inmates in early June.
“Contraband in our prisons is something we take very seriously,” Smith said. “Whenever there is an allegation made, we look into it thoroughly.”
Investigators monitored phone calls between inmates and their family members and friends to gather information about drug dealing between inmates and staffers, Smith said in an interview.
But activity between the staffers and inmates suddenly stopped amid the criminal probe just two months later, state records show.
Investigators blame Spencer, a 10-year veteran at the Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections, for digging up the investigation on a state computer and then showing the documents off to others who might have been wrapped up in the drug dealing scandal. A temporary glitch in the prison’s computer server system allowed Spencer to access the files, she said. Prison investigators had surveillance videos that showed Spencer spending time on a prison computer and printing off several documents around the same time that investigation was blown, according to records.
State officials believe Spencer got a hold of the investigation July 29 and just days later showed the documents to one other individual under investigation at the time — Corrections Officer Melvin McLemore — and two other staff members. McLemore resigned, after more than 15 years as a state employee, amid the investigation last year but was not given a settlement payment, Smith said. McLemore was making $20.94 per hour at his job when he resigned. He could not be located to comment on this story.
“This did result in the termination of an active Ohio State Highway Patrol criminal investigation that had involved numerous resources both in the prison and community,” the state’s prison investigation reads.
Spencer’s brother who works at the neighboring prison, Warren Correctional Institution, told investigators that Spencer had downloaded the files, records show. Spencer, however, told investigators that he was shown the files, by others, and didn’t seek them out.
In June, state investigators submitted a subpoena for bank statements and phone records of at least three Lebanon prison employees, including Spencer and McLemore, to investigate contraband — including possible illegal drugs — in the facility. This newspaper has chosen not to name the third employee because that individual is still employed with the department and was only under investigation based on a description given to the department by an inmate.
Investigators believed large cash deposits — totaling more than $18,000 over six months — into the correction officers’ bank accounts supported their theory that Spencer and McLemore were getting paid to deal drugs to inmates. Spencer made cash deposits totaling $4,750 in six months while McLemore made $13,500 worth of cash deposits during the same time.
“These types of deposits are consistent with previous investigations into staff conveyance of contraband,” the state’s investigation notes. “Staff typically demand cash so that it cannot be traced back to them.”
In interviews with the state, Spencer defended those cash deposits as nothing more than financial help from one of his unemployed family members.
“You realize how bogus that sounds?” Tom Schweitzer, the Deputy Warden at the Lebanon prison who interrogated Spencer over the allegations, said in state interviews.
Playing dumb?
But the state was only able to provide solid evidence surrounding Spencer’s alleged $500 tobacco deal with an inmate — and that still wasn’t enough to fire him, according to the union.
Spencer allegedly entered a closet on Aug. 5, dropped off two pounds tobacco and left, according to state video and files. Minutes later, an inmate picked up the bag. That inmate named Spencer as his dealer and said he paid him $500.
“Let’s quit playing this dumb role here, you have been bringing in contraband,” Schweitzer said in a September interview with Spencer.
While state investigators contended his fingerprints were on the bag, according to the investigation, Spencer said he was likely the victim of an inmate who stole his lunch bag to carry tobacco.
Smith said the Lebanon prison implemented a new policy last year that required employees to carry in their personal items or materials through a plastic bag.
Tobacco dealing at the state prisons tend to be the state’s biggest dealing problem, Joanna Saul, the director of Ohio’s Correctional Institution Inspection Committee, said.
“Certainly investigations of staff are frequent. That’s why there’s an investigator position at every prison,” Saul said. “The investigations tend to be more about tobacco. For the officers, that’s not a felony to bring tobacco in. Tobacco is a banned substance within the prison; you can get a lot of money for tobacco.”
In October the state tried to fire Spencer for both incidents — and cited absenteeism as a previous problem — but the Ohio Civil Services Employee Association, the union that represents prison workers, disputed the state’s evidence.
Union representatives did not respond to requests for an interview for this story.
“Management did not have just cause,” a union response to Spencer’s removal signed in November reads. “The discipline administered was excessive and does (sic) commensurate with alleged infractions. Furthermore, management has not provided the Union with ANY valid proof that such actions or infractions occurred.”
Spencer’s final settlement, including the $20,000 payment, was reached in January.
“Ultimately, we want to ensure we have the highest quality individuals working in our facility,” Smith said of the state’s decision to settle with Spencer.