An affidavit by former Lieutenant Robert Wetherell accuses high-ranking sheriff's officials of gestapolike tactics in the 1996 investigation of fired Sergeant Mark Battilana, who has spent the past two years appealing his discharge to the county's law enforcement merit commission. Last month, after hearings in the case, a commission hearing officer recommended that Battilana's firing be upheld.
The commission itself has yet to rule, and Battilana's attorney hopes to convince the panel to reopen the hearings based on Wetherell's information. The commission is expected to decide that issue on December 2.
The hard-hitting affidavit details a complex "sting" aimed at Battilana, once a trusted deputy who Arpaio came to believe was secretly giving New Times information about the department. "We have to protect the sheriff from dime droppers," Wetherell says he was told by Director David Hendershott, Arpaio's chief assistant.
The affidavit says two deputies were promised any jobs they wanted if they implicated Battilana in leaks to the press. Wetherell contends it was made clear to him that if he didn't go along with the investigation, his job would be at risk.
He describes a clandestine meeting with Hendershott in which the men sat in their cars, door to door, in the parking lot of a Circle K. Hendershott, according to the affidavit, told Wetherell they couldn't risk being seen together.
Wetherell says Hendershott ordered him to doctor statements given by the two deputies involved in the sting to make them more damaging to Battilana. Hendershott said he needed to "make an example" of Battilana "so the dime droppers will keep their fucking mouths shut."
Wetherell also says that Hendershott and Chief Deputy Jadel Roe, the head of internal affairs, lied in testimony to the merit commission about Battilana, apparently to sidestep what could have been seen as improprieties with the investigation.
Wetherell, who recently quit the sheriff's office while he, too, was being investigated for misconduct, was the lead investigator in the sheriff's case against Battilana. He came forward three weeks ago with the new information, soon after he was forced to resign.
Arpaio and his attorney denied the veracity of the affidavit, questioned the integrity of its author and dismissed the incident's importance.
Arpaio's employees, however, tell New Times that the Wetherell affidavit could bode ill for "America's toughest sheriff." Deputies say they expect other sheriff's employees, emboldened by Wetherell's comments, to come forward with similar reports. They also believe the affidavit could prompt outside law enforcement agencies to begin taking a hard look at those claims.
Spokesman Bill FitzGerald says that County Attorney Rick Romley is aware of the contents of Wetherell's affidavit, but that his office has made no "decisions or announcements" about the case.
Battilana's attorney, Phil Flemming, says that he and his client are not meeting with the state Attorney General's Office to discuss Wetherell's accusations, despite rumors among deputies that the AG has gotten involved. Meanwhile, Flemming says he is considering filing a federal civil suit on Battilana's behalf.
Five years ago, Battilana was a deputy on whom Arpaio counted to burnish his image as a tough crime fighter. A 1994 Village Voice story featured Battilana as the deputy overseeing Arpaio's posse operations, which included making splashy arrests of prostitutes on Van Buren Street.
Deputies complained to New Times, however, that the posses were not the money-saving and effective crime-fighting force that Arpaio promoted.
An April 1996 New Times story ("Mutiny at the County") showed that Arpaio's emphasis on his volunteers had forced a massive shift of resources to the posses. Rather than saving the county millions of dollars, the posses were draining millions. Arpaio's policies, deputies charged, were intended solely to get him publicity, and not fight crime.
New Times found that the sheriff's most severe critics weren't members of the ACLU or prisoner advocates, but Arpaio's own employees. After the article appeared, Arpaio and Hendershott pushed for a massive internal investigation to determine which deputies had talked to New Times.
Two weeks later, the sheriff's office began an internal investigation of Battilana, accusing the sergeant of encouraging other employees to talk to New Times.
Wetherell was temporarily assigned to the internal affairs section to lead the investigation. He had worked under Hendershott in enforcement support, the division that oversees posses. Deputies say the message was clear: Hendershott brought in his own trusted officer to oust a deputy whom Arpaio suspected of leaking news to the press.
Battilana was fired as a result of Wetherell's investigation, and appealed his dismissal. Hearing officer Conrad Sanders recommended that Battilana's termination be upheld.
But before the commission had ruled on the case, Flemming asked that hearings be reopened based on Wetherell's accusations.
Wetherell himself ran afoul of Arpaio and Hendershott, and became the target of an internal investigation earlier this year. After completing the Battilana investigation, he was assigned to the aviation division, where he oversaw the sheriff's helicopters. On August 31, Wetherell learned that the sheriff intended to fire him. He was accused of misusing government property, harassing employees, providing false information on insurance documents and inappropriate use of the helicopters.
Wetherell resigned in October. No charges were ever filed.
His attorney, Carolyn Crook, says the allegations are preposterous. The county property Wetherell supposedly misused, for example, was a copying machine he had allowed a company to share in exchange for letting the aviation division have additional office space.
Crook says Wetherell resigned rather than go through what Battilana had gone through fighting his termination.
Two weeks later, Wetherell came forward with his affidavit, which contains accusations of witness tampering, harassment and perjury.
The affidavit alleges:
* Deputies Gary McGuire and Dale Tupper were offered the assignments of their choice in exchange for their testimony against Battilana.
* Hendershott used McGuire in an undercover assignment to gather damaging information against Battilana before an official investigation had begun.
* Hendershott ordered Wetherell to doctor McGuire's and Tupper's reports about Battilana, statements that became key in the charges against the ousted sergeant.
* Deputies who would not cooperate were transferred to dead-end assignments.
Crook says that Wetherell has nothing to gain by coming forward with his accusations, which he made under oath. He has no reason to expose himself to perjury charges, she says.
Hendershott, McGuire and Tupper couldn't be reached for comment for this story. Sergeant Dave Trombi, a public information officer with the sheriff's office, declined to pass on messages to the officers. Instead, he says the county's response to Wetherell's allegations is contained in another affidavit, this one written by deputy county attorney Ronald Lebowitz, who has handled the Battilana case.
The gist of that affidavit is that Wetherell's lacks credibility because it contradicts testimony he gave in the Battilana case.
Lebowitz has represented the sheriff's office in the Battilana case since September 1996, prior to his hiring as a deputy county attorney. He characterizes Wetherell's bombshell affidavit as a "personal betrayal" of Lebowitz, and writes that Wetherell's affidavit "reveals a personality which appears to be stuck in a quagmire of paranoia, imagining cabals and conspiracies underlying every act of government. . . ."
Lebowitz's affidavit says that it was he, and not Hendershott, who insisted that potential witnesses in the Battilana case be polygraphed. Excerpts of Lebowitz's affidavit are reproduced elsewhere in this issue.
Excerpts of the Wetherell Affidavit
ROBERT WETHERELL, being first duly sworn, deposes and states as follows:
I was employed by the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office for 17-1/2 years; and, was a Lieutenant for 5 years and 9 months prior to my resignation on October 19, 1998.
I was actively and intimately involved in the investigation of Mark Battilana, and Mark Battilana's subsequent Merit Commission appeal.
I make this Affidavit based on first hand knowledge.
In approximately April 1996, I received a telephone call from Deputy Dale Tupper. Deputy Tupper told me that he was concerned about his transfer from District 2. Deputy Tupper told me that he had concerns that Sergeant Mark Battilana was behind his transfer. After my phone conversation with Deputy Tupper, I contacted Director Hendershott to tell him about Deputy Tupper's concern about being transferred from District 2.
When I told this to Director Hendershott, Director Hendershott was elated and said: "This stuff is great. You couldn't have picked better timing."
Thereafter, Director Hendershott ordered me to get Deputy Gary McGuire to make undercover contact with Sergeant Mark Battilana in an effort to get information that could be used against Mark Battilana. Director Hendershott basically ordered that Deputy McGuire should act as a "mole." At this time, there was no Internal Affairs investigation of Sergeant Battilana.
Director Hendershott told me that Deputy Dale Tupper and Deputy Gary McGuire would be rewarded for their cooperation in getting information that could be used against Mark Battilana. Director Hendershott told me that the Sheriff's Office wanted Mark Battilana fired.
Prior to the actual Internal Affairs investigation being conducted, David Hendershott informed me that Deputy Gary McGuire was to act as a mole and try to get information on Mark Battilana and that at a later time any negative information would be taken to Chief Deputy Jadel Roe, who is in charge of Internal Affairs. Director Hendershott would chuckle and refer to Deputy McGuire as "our mole" or "Deep Throat." I knew that this was highly unusual and improper. However, based on my experience with Director Hendershott, I knew that if I did not cooperate that I would also be terminated.
During this pre-investigation phase where Deputy McGuire was ordered to act as a mole against Sergeant Battilana, I also spoke with several Department employees about Mark Battilana. After interviewing several of these individuals, I told Director Hendershott that many of the "potential witnesses" knew nothing about any misconduct involving Sergeant Battilana. Director Hendershott then ordered me to intimidate "Potential Witnesses" and threaten polygraphs of any "potential witnesses" who would not come forward with negative information about Mark Battilana. Director Hendershott told me that "We must get people who want to cooperate and we will eliminate those who will not cooperate."
During my interviews of possible witnesses, Director Hendershott was very consumed with the information that I received from the individuals I interviewed. In fact, Director Hendershott ordered that I contact him and relay the substance of the interviews immediately after I completed an interview.
During this highly unusual pre-Internal Affairs investigation of Mark Battilana, Director Hendershott told me that he had convinced Sheriff Arpaio to assign me as the Chief Investigator of the Mark Battilana Internal Affairs investigation.
Director Hendershott told me that "We need a shark with a killer instinct so we get the results we want." Director Hendershott told me that he did not want to actually tell Chief Deputy Roe about this undercover investigation of Mark Battilana. Again, I knew that this was highly unusual and improper. However, the message was very clear to me from Director Hendershott that if I did not cooperate my future with the Sheriff's Office would not be good. Therefore, I continued.
During the undercover operation, which was being conducted by Deputy Gary McGuire, Director Hendershott called me on an almost daily basis to tell me to instruct Deputy Gary McGuire as to what type of information Deputy McGuire needed to get on Mark Battilana in order to get Mark Battilana out of the Sheriff's Office.
Astoundingly, Director Hendershott then told me to tell Deputy Gary McGuire and Deputy Dale Tupper that, if they cooperated in getting negative information on Mark Battilana the Sheriff's Office would assign them to whatever position they wanted in the Sheriff's Office. It was clear to me that Deputies Tupper and McGuire were being offered special assignments in exchange for their cooperation against Mark Battilana. Again it was also made clear to me that if I did not cooperate that I may be forced out of the Sheriff's Office as well.
Thereafter, I told Deputies Tupper and McGuire that Director Hendershott advised me to tell them that they would receive the assignments of their choice if they developed a case against Mark Battilana.
Deputy Gary McGuire said that he wanted to be in the Selective Enforcement Unit. (Lebowitz's affidavit says there is no such unit.)
Deputy Tupper said that he wanted to be in the Aviation Unit.
On or about July 1996 I received a telephone call from Deputy Chief Jesse Locksa who stated that Director Hendershott had ordered Deputy McGuire to be transferred to the Selective Enforcement Unit. Deputy Chief Locksa told me that he did not have any positions open for Deputy McGuire in the Selective Enforcement Unit (Property Crimes). Deputy Chief Locksa asked me whether Deputy McGuire would like a different specified position which I believe was in the Special Investigations Unit.
I called Deputy McGuire to ask him if this alternative assignment would be acceptable to him. Deputy McGuire told me that he would really rather be in the Selective Enforcement Unit. I contacted Deputy Chief Locksa and told him that Deputy McGuire really preferred to be in the Selective Enforcement Unit (Property Crimes). Deputy Chief Locksa told me that this was really not possible. Deputy Chief Locksa told me that he would contact Director Hendershott directly to explain why this position could not be offered to Deputy McGuire.
During the pre-Internal Affairs investigation when Deputy McGuire was acting as a mole Deputy McGuire went over to Mark Battilana's home on the pretext of a social visit. Deputy McGuire and Mark Battilana also went to the Arizona Center that same evening. This encounter was staged. This was a further effort at the direction of Director Hendershott for Deputy McGuire to get negative information about Sergeant Battilana.
Director Hendershott was consumed with Deputy McGuire getting negative information on Mark Battilana. On one occasion, during the pre-Internal Affairs investigation, Deputy McGuire took a personal trip to Texas. Director Hendershott ordered that when Deputy McGuire was in Texas he was to continue to call Mark Battilana and get information that could be used against him. Director Hendershott instructed me to tell Deputy McGuire that the Sheriff's Office would pay for the long distance phone calls from Texas.
After the pre-Internal Affairs investigation, Director Hendershott ordered that Deputies Tupper and McGuire write memos which would be damaging to Mark Battilana. At this time, Deputy McGuire was living at Deputy Tupper's home. These memos, which were very damaging to Mark Battilana, were typed up on Deputy Dale Tupper's home computer. However, Deputy Tupper's printer was not functioning properly. Therefore, Deputies Tupper and McGuire put these memos on a disk and gave the disk to me to print out on my home computer. After I received these memos, I called Director Hendershott and told him that I had the statements from Deputies Tupper and McGuire. Director Hendershott told me that he wanted to review these statements to make sure that there would be enough in them against Mark Battilana before the statements were given to Chief Deputy Jadel Roe. I again thought that this was highly unusual because I knew that normally when allegations are made against an employee the allegations go to that employee's direct supervisor rather than to the head of Internal Affairs.
Director Hendershott told me that he wanted to meet me at Seventh Street and McDowell in the parking lot at the Circle K headquarters. Director Hendershott told me that he did not want anyone to see him with Bob Wetherell and that is why we were meeting at a secret location at Seventh Street and McDowell. At this time, I had not yet been formally assigned as the Chief Investigator in the Internal Affairs investigation of Sergeant Battilana.
Director Hendershott and I met at Seventh Street and McDowell and pulled up car door-to-car door. Director Hendershott was driving a gold Caprice. I was driving a white Lumina. This meeting took place at approximately the end of April in 1996, in the mid-afternoon.
After Director Hendershott reviewed the statements of Deputies Tupper and McGuire, Director Hendershott said:
1: "We are going to get the son of a bitch."
2: "We have to protect the Sheriff from dime droppers."
3. "We will make an example of Mark Battilana so that dime droppers will keep their fucking mouths shut."
After reviewing the memos further, Director Hendershott said, "No, we need more." At that time, Director Hendershott ordered me to take notes on the additional statements that he wanted included in Deputy Tupper's and McGuire's statements. Therefore, I wrote down the additional statements that Director Hendershott wanted me to include in Deputy Tupper's and McGuire's memos. Director Hendershott wanted the statements altered even though he did not know whether his alterations were accurate.
I had Deputy Tupper's and McGuire's statements on my computer. I have a copy of the statements as they were written by Deputies Tupper and McGuire. I also have a copy of the statements with the changes that were to be included at the direction of David Hendershott. The statements that Director Hendershott directed me to add to Deputy Tupper's memo were:
A. "I also called to complain that Sergeant Battilana was improperly using his position to harass me and slander and defame the Sheriff.
B. "He made these comments weekly in briefings with the squad members present and often some posse members. Those posse members who would attend some of Sergeant Battilana's briefings were Bob Bailey, Brad Kuen, Paul Mason and Cody (unknown last name) who works for Cellular One. I don't remember any other people being present as far as citizen observers or any other non-Sheriff Office employees."
C. "I can't recall the specific calls where he would make these statements. These statements were made to the general public (unknown names) and involved times when citizens would approach Sergeant Battilana in a restaurant or on the street and ask how the Sheriff was doing."
D. "I don't remember anyone else being present when these remarks were made."
E. "This encounter was very uncomfortable for me and quite intimidating, since these were my direct supervisor."
After I altered the memos of Deputies Tupper and McGuire as I had been ordered, I told Director Hendershott that Deputy Tupper was on vacation in Anaheim, California, with his family, and therefore Deputy Tupper would not be able to immediately sign the memo. Director Hendershott became upset and demanded that I get in touch with Deputy Tupper and get these statements signed. I therefore called motels in Anaheim in an effort to find Deputy Tupper. I believe I made the phone calls from my home.
After I showed Deputy Tupper the alterations to his statement, he told me that he was never intimidated by Sergeant Battilana and that he did not agree with the statement that Director Hendershott had ordered be put in which says: "I also called to complain that Sergeant Battilana was improperly using his position to harass me and slander and defame the Sheriff." Deputy Tupper told me that originally he had called me as a friend about his transfer to District 3 and how he should handle it. . . .
I told Deputy Tupper that Director Hendershott wanted the statement about being intimidated in the memo when it was presented to Chief Deputy Jadel Roe. Deputy Tupper indicated to me, again, that he did not agree with that statement. However, because Deputy Tupper knew that Director Hendershott wanted the intimidation statements in his statement, Deputy Tupper agreed to allow the statement to remain in the memo and he signed it.
After the statements of Deputies Tupper and McGuire had been altered, I turned the statements over to Director Hendershott. At that time, Director Hendershott told me that I must know "who is on the team and who is not." . . . Director Hendershott also told me that "make sure we take care of the team and deal with those who are not."
I gave the statements to Director Hendershott and Director Hendershott gave the statements to Chief Deputy Roe.
Shortly after the memos had been turned in to Chief Deputy Roe, I received a memo from Chief Deputy Roe informing me that I was assigned to the Internal Affairs Department as the Internal Affairs investigator of Mark Battilana. This was highly unusual because I had absolutely no experience in Internal Affairs. However, because of Director Hendershott's past statements and conduct, I believed that if I declined the position my work status would be jeopardized.
As the Internal Affairs investigator of Mark Battilana, I was present for all 32 days of the appeal hearing which was held before Hearing Officer Conrad Sanders. I heard the testimony of David Hendershott and Jadel Roe. I have also had an opportunity to review the transcripts of the testimony of David Hendershott and Jadel Roe.
It is my opinion that David Hendershott was not truthful when he testified that Jadel Roe made the decision to appoint Bob Wetherell as the Internal Affairs investigator. I believe that it was David Hendershott who made that decision.
I also believe that Director Hendershott was less than truthful when he testified that there were no promises given to witnesses in exchange for their testimony against Mark Battilana, testified that the transfers of Deputies McGuire and Tupper were part of a reorganization going on within the Sheriff's Office. Deputies Tupper and McGuire's transfers were when several other transfers were done so their transfers did not look suspicious.
I believe Jadel Roe was not truthful in the appeal hearing when she testified that she made the decision to appoint me as the Internal Affairs investigator of Mark Battilana. As I stated above, I believe it was actually Director Hendershott who made that decision.
On or about July 1996, I explained to Jadel Roe that it was going to look suspicious that Deputies Tupper and McGuire received favorable transfers after their statements and actions taken against Mark Battilana. Chief Deputy Roe told me that she would just take care of it.
Once I was assigned as the Internal Affairs investigator of Mark Battilana, I received phone calls from David Hendershott on a daily basis. Director Hendershott wanted to know what witnesses were saying about Mark Battilana. I was instructed that I was to contact Director Hendershott and advise him on a daily basis as to what witnesses were saying.
After I interviewed witnesses, I would update Director Hendershott on what the witnesses had to say. If certain witnesses did not have negative information about Mark Battilana, Director Hendershott told me that these people were not being truthful and that we needed to threaten to polygraph these individuals. Director Hendershott also stated that "Those assholes better start telling the truth or we will fire them."
I believe that Director Hendershott wanted to target Jay Ellison in an effort to terminate him because John Kleinheinz convinced Director Hendershott that Jay Ellison was a dime dropper.
Director Hendershott also told me that we need to "See how many dime droppers we can get rid of at the same time." I believe that Director Hendershott thought that Jay Ellison was a dime dropper.
Director Hendershott ordered that I was to make the Battilana investigation as broad as possible so that I could catch as many people as possible in the "net." Director Hendershott told me that "the droppers are going to learn that if you fuck with the Sheriff you die."
Also, on or about May or June 1996, Sheriff Arpaio told me that he wanted the Internal Affairs investigation of Mark Battilana to get as many dime droppers as possible. Sheriff Arpaio referred to the Internal Affairs Department as the "Internal security."
At the direction of Dave Hendershott, I was to make up a list of department employees who in Director Hendershott's view were not being cooperative in the Mark Battilana investigation. I was, in an effort to threaten and intimidate these employees, ordered to polygraph them. I was then ordered to take this list to Jadel Roe and get polygraphs ordered for Jay Ellison, D. Smith, Dave Head, Mike Igiliski, Chris Pasciuti, John Whelan, Roy Reyer, Paul Mason, Dave Taylor and Todd Waite. When I presented this list to Chief Deputy Roe, she told me that if we polygraphed all these people, this would look like a "witch hunt." Chief Deputy Roe then asked me which ones would really be germane for the polygraphs. Chief Deputy Roe told me that she would talk with the Sheriff and Dave Hendershott about the appearance of polygraphing all of these people.
After I had interviewed several witnesses about Mark Battilana, I told Chief Deputy Jadel Roe that I really did not believe that I had obtained any information which would warrant serious discipline. However, Chief Deputy Roe instructed me to continue with the Internal Affairs investigation.
Director Hendershott was obsessed with the investigation of Mark Battilana. In fact, I thought it was highly unusual that Director Hendershott, on several weekends, met with attorney Ronald Lebowitz who was handling the appeal hearing of Mark Battilana. Director Hendershott had not conducted any of the interviews and had not been investigating the matter. I believe that he would have had very limited knowledge that would have assisted attorney Lebowitz. Also; during the appeal hearing of Mark Battilana, Director Hendershott ordered that I call him every day after the hearing and advise him as to what occurred in the hearing.
In preparation of the Mark Battilana appeal hearing, Director Hendershott felt that Les Nutting was not cooperating in providing negative information about Mark Battilana. Therefore, I was present when attorney Ronald Lebowitz told Director Hendershott that Les Nutting should be videotaped at his office and that Director Hendershott should be present in an effort to intimidate Les Nutting and get negative testimony against Mark Battilana. Director Hendershott agreed that he would sit in on the video taping in an effort to further intimidate Les Nutting.
Thereafter, a video of Les Nutting was taken at Ronald Lebowitz' office. Director Hendershott was present during this video taping. The purpose of the video tape was to intimidate Les Nutting into cooperating against Mark Battilana.
During the video-taped interview Les Nutting was very upset. This video-taped interview took place in November or December of 1997. After the video taped interview, Les Nutting asked if he could speak with Director Hendershott outside of Ron Lebowitz's office. After Director Hendershott met with Les Nutting, Director Hendershott came back into attorney Lebowitz's office and was laughing about how Les Nutting was in fear of losing his job and how their effort to intimidate him had been successful.
On or about July 1996, Sergeant Mark Battilana's home was broken into. On that same evening, the Glendale Police Department had stopped a car which apparently had a gun in it that had been stolen from Shooter's World. Sheriff Arpaio asked me if the gun that was found in this vehicle which was stolen from Shooter's World could somehow be connected to Mark Battilana. The Sheriff seemed very insistent that there be some way to connect this stolen gun to Mark Battilana in a further effort to get Mark Battilana out of the Sheriff's Office. Sheriff Arpaio and Director Hendershott continued to emphasize that they wanted to make a connection of this stolen gun to Mark Battilana. However, there was no connection.
I was present at several meetings with Sheriff Arpaio, Dave Hendershott and attorney Ronald Lebowitz in which the topic of Tom Bearup's testimony at the appeal hearing of Mark Battilana was discussed. Although the appeal hearing involved the termination of Mark Battilana, Sheriff Arpaio and Director Hendershott wanted damaging information about Tom Bearup to come out at the hearing so that this information could be used against Tom Bearup if Tom Bearup ran against Sheriff Arpaio for Sheriff.
After Tom Bearup testified at the appeal hearing of Mark Battilana, Director Hendershott and Sheriff Arpaio wanted the transcript of Tom Bearup's testimony. Attorney Ronald Lebowitz told Director Hendershott and Sheriff Arpaio that he did not have a legitimate purpose to request this transcript. However, Director Hendershott and Sheriff Arpaio insisted that they get the transcript on an expedited basis. The cost of the transcripts was over $500. Director Hendershott and Sheriff Arpaio ordered that this transcript be obtained at County expense even though the purpose of the transcript was only for political purposes on a re-election of the Sheriff against Tom Bearup.
In June or July of 1996, I was invited to a meeting on East Van Buren between Seventh Street and 16th Street in an old house that the Sheriff's Office rented out to have a meeting. This meeting was done away from the Department because there was a feeling that information was being leaked and the Sheriff's Office wanted the meeting away from the Sheriff's Office for that reason. Director Hendershott instructed me, prior to this meeting, that the meeting was going to be to discuss transfers of people who were viewed as "dime droppers" against the Sheriff and where those people would be transferred to. . . .
Director Hendershott told me that I was to be at the meeting because they needed to know which individuals were not cooperating in giving damaging information against Mark Battilana and who the dime droppers were so they would know who to transfer. Sheriff Arpaio stated that we must put the dime dropper where they could not cause damage.
Also during the Mark Battilana investigation, Director Hendershott did not believe that Deputy Dave Head and Deputy Chris Pasciuti were being cooperative against Mark Battilana. Therefore, Director Hendershott ordered me to call Dave Head and Chris Pasciuti's District Commander, Pat Cooper, and tell Commander Cooper to tell Dave Head and Chris Pasciuti that the time is now to come clean. This was an effort to intimidate Dave Head and Chris Pasciuti into cooperating against Mark Battilana.
Director Hendershott did not believe that Paul Mason, a former posseman, was being cooperative against Mark Battilana. Therefore, Director Hendershott ordered me to go to Chief Wendt and have him put Paul Mason on an undesirable shift in an effort to force Paul Mason out of the Sheriff's Office. He stated that Paul Mason was an old man who probably couldn't take the midnight shift.
Director Hendershott also did not believe that Deputy Todd Waite was cooperating against Mark Battilana. Therefore, Director Hendershott ordered me to re-interview Todd Waite during the Internal Affairs interview of Mark Battilana and threaten Todd Waite with a polygraph in an effort to intimidate him into cooperating against Mark Battilana.
I believe that the original appeal hearing of Mark Battilana was set for July of 1997. Prior to the appeal hearing, I had a meeting with Director Hendershott to discuss the hearing. Director Hendershott told me that I was to make sure that no one found out that Deputy Gary McGuire was ordered to do undercover work against Mark Battilana.
I believe that Director Hendershott orchestrated a campaign to justify terminating Mark Battilana from the Sheriff's Office. Although I knew that the procedures used in the investigation were highly improper, I also knew that if I did not cooperate that I would be retaliated against. I knew that Director Hendershott altered the statements of witnesses in an effort to get Mark Battilana out of the Sheriff's Office. I know that Director Hendershott offered benefits to witnesses who would cooperate against Mark Battilana. I was ordered by Director Hendershott that any witnesses who did not cooperate against Mark Battilana were to be intimidated in an effort to get damaging testimony against Mark Battilana. I know that witnesses who cooperated against Mark Battilana were assigned to favorable positions within the Sheriff's Office. I also know that people who would not cooperate against Mark Battilana were transferred to undesirable positions. I believe that during the appeal hearing of Mark Battilana, Dave Hendershott and Jadel Roe were less than truthful during their testimony. I strongly believe that the Sheriff's Office had no grounds in which to terminate Mark Battilana.
