Liquor control agents, fired for identity theft, using college student as undercover stripper, and boinking her, are ordered re-hired with back pay

Unknownnews.org
Apr. 23, 2006

Commentary by SirJ:

Since when did firing require something be illegal? Isn't disgusting, inappropriate, unprofessional, and conduct unbecoming an officer sufficient?

SirJAssociated Press -- April 19, 2006

TROY, Ohio -- An arbitrator ordered the reinstatement of two state liquor agents who investigators said had sex with a college student and then helped give her another woman's identity so she could go undercover as an exotic dancer.

Chad Fannin and Gavin Stanton committed a serious error in judgment, but their firing was excessive punishment, arbitrator E. William Lewis of Columbus wrote in a 17-page decision released Monday.

Fannin and Stanton were fired last summer for conduct unbecoming officers and failure to perform their duties. Both had filed union grievances.

The arbitrator suspended Stanton for 90 days and Fannin for 60 days. He also ordered that both be paid lost benefits and wages.

The firing stemmed from a 2003 sting at the now-closed Total Xposure strip bar near this western Ohio city.

The Dayton office of the Ohio Investigative Unit, which enforces liquor laws, provided a confiscated driver's license of a Cincinnati woman to the Troy Police Department, which gave it to Michelle Szuhay to get a job as a stripper at the club. The identity was used without permission.

Troy police then removed Fannin and Stanton from the sting after the agents said they had sex with Szuhay before they started investigating the club.

Any sexual relations between the agents and Szuhay do not appear to be unlawful, Lewis said in his arbitration ruling. He also said there was not enough convincing evidence that alleged instances of misconduct -- such as agents drinking with underage women -- occurred.

Susan Raber, a spokeswoman for the Department of Public Safety, which oversees the state investigative unit, said the office still believes it was right to fire the agents.

Szuhay, then a 22-year-old criminal justice major at the University of Dayton, told investigators she wanted to go undercover as a waitress, but Miami County Prosecutor Gary Nasal insisted she be a stripper. Szuhay said she then asked for a fake name.

Troy police were investigating allegations of drug dealing and prostitution at the nightclub.

As originally published