Franklin County Court Hires Disgraced Former FCSO Sergeant
Two months after Sgt. David Jenkins "retired" from the Franklin County Sheriff's Office following an internal Affairs Bureau Investigation that portrayed Jenkins as a dishonest rogue cop; Jenkins was hired at the Franklin County Juvenile Detention Center.
"They had him "slam dunk" is the expression I heard," said my source, an FCSO sergeant. "The Sheriff (Dallas Baldwin) and (Franklin County) Prosecutor's Office didn't want to pull the trigger."
The IAB's damning 58-page investigative report documented how Jenkins, a 21-year employee of the FCSO, worked security (Special Duty assignments) at local businesses while on he was supposed to have been working at the FCSO, billed a business 90 hours of overtime he didn't work during a six-month period, falsified county timesheets and slacked off on his duties to the point where some of his co-workers said that Jenkins rarely wore a uniform and came and went as he pleased.
In its report, the IAB recommended that the 55-year-old Jenkins faces administration charges that carry a penalty from suspension to termination. Instead, the FCSO allowed Jenkins to "retire" last December, one month after the IAB concluded its three-month investigation.
When I contacted Franklin County Asst. Prosecutor Jeanine Hummer asked her why her office didn't charge Jenkins with a crime, Hummer emailed me the following response: "Mr. Sussi, thanks for reaching out. It is the FCSO that determines which questions, if any, it wants to respond to."
The FCSO has yet to respond to my questions.
On February 13, the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas Juvenile Division hired Jenkins as a juvenile intervention specialist at the county's Juvenile Detention Center. Records show that Jenkins applied for the position on November 22.
Now, the question that begs an answer. Considering the FCSO IAB's damaging investigation, why did the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas hire Jenkins?
Parker Perry, the court's Public Information Coordinator, emailed me this statement. "Tom, thank you for reaching out to us about these concerns. As the personnel file you obtained shows, Mr. Jenkins started as a Juvenile Intervention Specialist earlier this month. During the hiring process, the court was not alerted about the matters you detailed in your recent article. We can tell you that Mr. Jenkins did successfully complete all pre-employment screenings before being hired. The court is in the process of gathering information."
The IAB's investigation also recommended that administrative charges be filed against Maj. David Oyer and Lt. Paul Karl for failing to supervise Jenkins and addressing "rumors" about Jenkins' Special Duty work and job performance that floated around the FCSO for the past eight years, "rumors" that the IAB concluded are factual.
Maj. Oyer and Lt. Karl, both 31-year FCSO employees, were allowed to resign with their pensions and retirement benefits.