The State Personnel Commission upheld the firing of a state trooper who gave a credit union teller a doctored picture of a naked boy.

Ronald Gene Ezzell Jr. was at the drive-through of the State Employees Credit Union on Vernon Avenue in Kinston on Oct. 28, 2008, when he placed a laminated picture of a young naked boy with an enlarged penis superimposed on his body, along with identification and a check to be cashed, in the canister and sent it to a female teller. Ezzell was in uniform in a marked patrol car at the time.

At the hearing, Ezzell said he meant the photo as a joke, saying he told the teller that the picture was of him at his grandmother’s house as a child. Ezzell, who flew helicopters for the patrol, called his actions an error in judgment, but not grounds for dismissal.

The patrol dismissed Ezzell in February on the grounds that he engaged conduct unbecoming of a state employee.

An administrative law judge previously upheld the firing and the Personnel Commission upheld that decision. Ezzell could now appeal to Superior Court. 

Score one for former state trooper Monty Steven Poarch.

Poarch, who has been fighting to regain his job with the state Highway Patrol, was acquitted in Buncombe County Superior Court last week of charges stemming from a dispute over a parking space at an Asheville restaurant, Steve Riley reports.

The daughter of a Durham assistant district attorney was standing in the space, attempting to hold it for her boyfriend's car, when Poarch slowly drove into the space, forcing her out.

Poarch had been found guilty of a misdemeanor assault charge in district court, but appealed to Superior Court. His attorney, Sean Devereux of Asheville, said that after a two-day trial, the jury found Poarch not guilty after only 25 minutes of deliberation.

"At a time when the state is cutting many vital services, it seems odd to take up three days of Superior Court time over a parking lot squabble," Devereux said.

Poarch, however, had much more on the line than a misdemeanor conviction. He has sued to return to the Highway Patrol after he was fired in 2003 for having sex with a woman in his cruiser and at a patrol station.

An administrative judge found that he should be reinstated because other troopers caught in similar or worse behavior had been allowed to remain on the patrol. The decision made public numerous cases of trooper misconduct over the past decade and created a major embarrassment for the agency.

The patrol and the State Personnel Commission rejected the law judge's finding, and Poarch is now trying to win that case in state Superior Court.

Former trooper Monty Steven Poarch's path back to the State Highway Patrol continues to get tougher.

In a trial earlier this month, a Buncombe County district judge found him guilty of a misdemeanor assault charge that involved a dispute over a parking space at an Asheville restaurant. The daughter of a Durham assistant district attorney was standing in the space, attempting to hold it for her boyfriend's car, when Poarch slowly drove into the space, forcing her out.

The conviction would jeopardize Poarch's law enforcement certification, which could cost him his current job as a captain with the Caldwell County Sheriff's Department, and put an end to his battle to get back with the patrol, said his attorney, Sean Devereux of Asheville, reports Dan Kane.

Poarch sued to return to the patrol after he was fired in 2003 for having sex with a woman in his patrol cruiser and at a patrol station.

Read more after the jump.

   Comments (4)

How much would veterans' bills cost?

Patrick Buffkin, a legislative analyst with Nelson Mullins in Raleigh, said the veterans groups he works with are being careful to push for bills that don't have a high price tag.

The three top priorities — studying traumatic brain injury, extending a tax exemption on military pensions and creating a Cabinet-level veterans post — are not expensive, though the exemption would cut some state income tax revenue.

"The Veterans Council sets their agenda not based on just what they want but also what is feasible," he said. "We understand that the state's facing a serious budget crunch. We've looked for ideas that will make a difference in veterans' lives, but also not cost a lot of money."

The other bills being pushed by legislators are also relatively minor, he said.

In recent years, he said the N.C. Veterans Council has gotten funding set aside for two new veterans nursing homes, helped raise the homestead tax exemption for disabled veterans and reserved a position for a veteran on the State Personnel Commission.

Two troopers disciplined over alleged racial comments and a former Division of Motor Vehicles assistant supervisor who blew the whistle on problems within the agency's emissions program appeared before the State Personnel Commission today.

— Trooper Mitch Foard's attorney, Travis Payne, told the commission that it should accept an administrative law judge's finding that the Highway Patrol had not proven that Foard had uttered a racial slur in 2006 that a retired lieutenant said was inadvertently recorded on his cell phone voice mail. Foard was demoted from sergeant over the incident, Dan Kane reports.

Assistant Attorney General Ashby Ray contended that Foard admitted to making the comment in an initial interview, and top patrol officials confirmed that was his voice. Payne, said that Foard specifically denied the comment, and more than a dozen troopers assigned to his district said that was not his voice on the recording.

— Capt. Norman Goering's attorney, Michael McGuinness, said the commission should accept an administrative law judge's finding that Goering should not have been punished for inadvertently, and with no harm intended, misspeaking in telling troopers lining up in July 2007 for a group photo "blacks in back."

Goering has said he intended to say "tall back, back tall." He had immediately apologized to a black lieutenant near him, but the comment brought Goering a five-day suspension. Ray said the punishment was proper because Goering made the comment in a public place and with African Americans present, but Ray also said there is no evidence that Goering harbors any racist attitudes.

— Former DMV assistant supervisor Ken Cassidy's attorney told the commission that it should accept an administrative law judge's finding that Cassidy should be reinstated to his job with back pay and legal fees after being fired in March for violating an order not to talk to the roughly 100 employees in the DMV's emissions program.

Cassidy worked in the Raleigh district office where he would come into contact with roughly a dozen emissions staff. The DMV contends that Cassidy had harassed a few employees, causing DMV Commissioner Bill Gore to fashion the order to prevent further complaints. Cassidy's lawyer, Michael C. Byrne, contends Cassidy the order was designed to set him up to be fired after he blew the whistle on an emissions staff that did not have enough work to do and on an improper hire.

The commission did not announce a decision in any of the cases. Typically, the commission provides a written decision within two months of the hearing.

A former State Highway Patrol sergeant fired for kicking his police dog during training should get his job back, the State Personnel Commission said today.

The commission found that the patrol had failed to prove that Sgt. Charles L. Jones' actions constituted personal misconduct, or that he had abused the dog, Ricoh. Jones should also receive back pay, the commission said.

A 12-year veteran of the patrol, Jones was dismissed in September 2007 after a video of him kicking Ricoh, then a 7-year-old Belgian Malinois, had surfaced, Dan Kane reports. The patrol initially planned to discipline him with a lesser penalty, but dismissed him after the governor's office got involved.

Jones fought the dismissal at an administrative hearing in April, saying he was only following training methods other troopers had used. More than a dozen troopers testified and spoke of  rough obedience techniques such as swinging or hanging dogs by their leads, shocking them with stun guns and throwing rock-filled bottles at them. Patrol policies provided little guidance in training techniques.

Senior Administrative Law Judge Fred G. Morrison sided with Jones, saying the governor's office had placed undue pressure on the patrol to fire Jones. The commission did not agree with that finding.

More after the jump.

   Comments (2)

A former State Ethics Commission employee who was fired after raising concerns about possible preferential treatment to Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue filed a whistleblower lawsuit in state Superior Court today.

Amanda Thaxton, an office assistant, said the firing has hit her hard financially and she wants a judge to reinstate her immediately, Dan Kane reports. She said in the suit that she is also seeking an award of triple damages — as the state's whistleblower law allows — plus legal fees for being fired for reporting her concerns to the Office of the State Auditor and to the State Personnel Commission.

"This was this girl's first job out of college," said her lawyer, Michael C. Byrne of Raleigh. "She comes in from Elon University, gets a job from the state and then is abruptly fired for cooperating and engaging in protected activity. That's just not right."

Perry Newson, the commission's executive director, could not be reached for comment Tuesday. He has said that Thaxton, 24, was not fired in retaliation.

More after the jump.

   Comments (4)

An administrative law judge has determined that an N.C. Highway Patrol captain never intended to make a racial remark that came out inadvertently and therefore should not have been suspended for five days.

Capt. Norman Goering was disciplined after a photo shoot of troopers in July 2007 in which he had said "black in back." He immediately apologized for the remark, saying that he had intended to say "tall in back" but tripped over his words, Dan Kane reports.

A lieutenant heard the remark and reported it, leading to an internal investigation. The investigation initially led to Goering's demotion to lieutenant, but then he was reinstated with the five-day suspension.

Administrative Law Judge Shannon Joseph determined after a hearing that no one had found Goering's remark to be intentional, and that the captain had an "exemplary" 26-year-history with the patrol. She said he should receive pay or benefits that were lost as a result of the suspension, and reasonable legal fees.

The State Personnel Commission will decide whether to accept the judge's findings.

A state trooper fired for having sex in a Highway Patrol car and office asked the State Personnel Commission today to reinstate him because other troopers who engaged in similar or worse behavior are still on the force.

Monty Steven Poarch, a trooper for 18 years, was fired in 2003. His attempt to get his job back have rocked the patrol after a state administrative law judge found that he should have his job back despite behavior egregious enough to get him fired, Dan Kane reports.

The case exposed roughly two dozen examples of troopers misbehaving, including those who had extramarital affairs either on or off duty, a trooper who had repeatedly threatened to kill his wife, and a trooper who had exposed himself while in uniform in his patrol car.

Those officers remained on the force.

More after the jump.

   Comments (0)