On Monday June 11 at the Sussex County Council Chambers, an informal hearing was convened in the matter of Deputy Ishmael "Pete" Torres. Deputy Torres was previously dismissed by the Sussex County Adminstration, apparently in violation of Delaware State Code;
§ 302. Officers and employees holding other offices.
(a) No receiver of taxes and county treasurer, coroner or sheriff shall,
during his or her term of office, be a member of the county government.
during his or her term of office, be a member of the county government.
§ 9201. Duties and responsibilities of officers appointing deputies and clerks.
All deputies and clerks shall be under the control of the officer by whom they are selected and employed, who may discharge any such deputy or clerk at any time. The officer shall be responsible for all the official acts, neglects and defaults of all deputies and clerks that officer employs. http://delcode.delaware.gov/title9/c092/index.shtml
The complaints against Torres seem to center around time records which do not coincide with GPS records. If true that's a felony in most cases. Why the informal hearing?
There are no rules of evidence, no sworn testimony. If manipulated GPS reports are indeed in play, as some supporters claim is there no danger of perjury?
Does the publicized nature of this hearing endanger any formal proceedings by tainting possible jury pools?
The opening statement by the county attorney assuring the assembled that the dismissal was not politically motivated is suspicious at best.
Councilman Charlie Wilson spoke to me in the lobby of the chambers, his arguments were most unconvincing and uninformed. He claimed that the attorney general was the supreme law enforcement entity in the state. The governor is the supreme executive and has in fact ignored at least one A.G. opinion, the opinion stating that the Kent County SPCA was a public agency to be specific.
That was the most reasonable argument Wilson made in defense of the Council's actions. One can only speculate as to the motives of the Sussex County Council to nullify a Sheriff that wants to do his job.
Then we have the players involved in the anti-sheriff movement. We'll be taking a look at them as this story unfolds. They are an interesting group with even more compelling political connections. We have our own little national political drama unfolding in Sussex County. That may prove inconvenient for many politicians and state and local employees.
I don't know if Deputy Torres fudged his time logs or not. Having a hard time believing that Sheriff Christopher would put up with it. I consider Jeff to be a friend, and I would not want to put him in a position to do his job. He impresses me as that kind of man, which makes me admire him more.
To be sure, Sheriff Christopher and I have some political differences. We differ on how specific incidents should be handled. Having said that, were I not challenged from a traffic accident I would walk through fire to work for him. My experience as an operations manager and supervisor in private security would cause me to hire the man in an New York minute. He's solid people.
This whole dust-up appears to be an effort to undermine the voters of Sussex County, and Deputy Torres is a vulnerable figure to attack. His history with DRBA and Milton PD makes him easy to smear. To my mind, I've seen enough skulduggery that it could go either way.
Torres could be the bum that some make him out to be. His troubles could also be what befalls a person who is unskilled at looking the other way at the required moment. Ask me how I know.
Twice I've prevailed at labor hearings against outrageous allegations that did not withstand the scrutiny of the rules of evidence. I'm not that good at looking the other way either. On one occasion my former employer was represented by two managers and an attorney. They still got the Brazilian wax from little ole me all by my lonesome. The truth is hard to get around.
All I know for sure is that the hearing was packed with citizens who support Christopher and Torres. It will be an interesting election cycle in Sussex County. I don't think those voters are going to take this lightly.
On the day of his closed hearing, some citizens showed up in support. That same day, bloggers who seemed to know an awful lot about the case were very active. We'll get to that as we unmask some players who have tried to be anonymous and not done a very good job of it, as well as some public servants who might have some explaining to do.
There are no rules of evidence, no sworn testimony. If manipulated GPS reports are indeed in play, as some supporters claim is there no danger of perjury?
Does the publicized nature of this hearing endanger any formal proceedings by tainting possible jury pools?
The opening statement by the county attorney assuring the assembled that the dismissal was not politically motivated is suspicious at best.
Councilman Charlie Wilson spoke to me in the lobby of the chambers, his arguments were most unconvincing and uninformed. He claimed that the attorney general was the supreme law enforcement entity in the state. The governor is the supreme executive and has in fact ignored at least one A.G. opinion, the opinion stating that the Kent County SPCA was a public agency to be specific.
That was the most reasonable argument Wilson made in defense of the Council's actions. One can only speculate as to the motives of the Sussex County Council to nullify a Sheriff that wants to do his job.
Then we have the players involved in the anti-sheriff movement. We'll be taking a look at them as this story unfolds. They are an interesting group with even more compelling political connections. We have our own little national political drama unfolding in Sussex County. That may prove inconvenient for many politicians and state and local employees.
I don't know if Deputy Torres fudged his time logs or not. Having a hard time believing that Sheriff Christopher would put up with it. I consider Jeff to be a friend, and I would not want to put him in a position to do his job. He impresses me as that kind of man, which makes me admire him more.
To be sure, Sheriff Christopher and I have some political differences. We differ on how specific incidents should be handled. Having said that, were I not challenged from a traffic accident I would walk through fire to work for him. My experience as an operations manager and supervisor in private security would cause me to hire the man in an New York minute. He's solid people.
This whole dust-up appears to be an effort to undermine the voters of Sussex County, and Deputy Torres is a vulnerable figure to attack. His history with DRBA and Milton PD makes him easy to smear. To my mind, I've seen enough skulduggery that it could go either way.
Torres could be the bum that some make him out to be. His troubles could also be what befalls a person who is unskilled at looking the other way at the required moment. Ask me how I know.
Twice I've prevailed at labor hearings against outrageous allegations that did not withstand the scrutiny of the rules of evidence. I'm not that good at looking the other way either. On one occasion my former employer was represented by two managers and an attorney. They still got the Brazilian wax from little ole me all by my lonesome. The truth is hard to get around.
All I know for sure is that the hearing was packed with citizens who support Christopher and Torres. It will be an interesting election cycle in Sussex County. I don't think those voters are going to take this lightly.
On the day of his closed hearing, some citizens showed up in support. That same day, bloggers who seemed to know an awful lot about the case were very active. We'll get to that as we unmask some players who have tried to be anonymous and not done a very good job of it, as well as some public servants who might have some explaining to do.
By Doug Beatty, copyright 2012 all rights reserved.
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