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Detective placed on paid leave resigns from sheriff’s office

LISBON — The paid administrative leave for former Detective Sgt. Steve Walker ended Friday with his resignation from the Columbiana County Sheriff’s Office.

“I thank you and your predecessors for the opportunities to serve the citizens of Columbiana County for the past 28 years,” Walker wrote in the two-sentence letter to Sheriff Brian McLaughlin dated Jan. 18.

McLaughlin said he had no comment about the situation, revealing on Monday that he received the resignation letter on Friday, but that he’s still waiting on a report from Portage County into allegations of alleged policy violations by Walker.

Walker had remained on paid administrative leave since Sept. 14 when McLaughlin notified him in writing that “this leave is based on a continuing investigation into allegations received on Sept. 7, 2022. The start of this investigation has revealed that there have been policy violations including the Ethics Section 4.3. This is not to state that there are no other policy violations.”

At the time when contacted about the leave, McLaughlin wouldn’t go into detail about the specific complaint the sheriff’s office received regarding Walker, including who filed it, but confirmed it involved his behavior on the job. He said that he and Chief Deputy Jen Tucker were investigating the complaint, along with some past complaints made against Walker which included concerns expressed by school superintendents at United and Southern who didn’t want him working events at their facilities.

Since then, McLaughlin said he asked the Portage County Sheriff’s Office to handle the investigation, acknowledging that other people came forward about issues regarding Walker after he was placed on leave, with those complaints turned over to Portage County investigators.

McLaughlin said he has talked to Portage County investigators, but he hasn’t received a completed report. When asked if the report will be made public when received, he said that will be up to legal counsel.

The letter did not say a reason for the resignation, only that he was informing McLaughlin that he was resigning.

Walker joined the sheriff’s office in November 1994 as a full-time deputy sheriff, previously serving as a patrolman for Goshen Township and as a dispatcher for the city of Salem. He was promoted to the rank of sergeant in the detective division in May 2003 and was assigned to the county Drug Task Force in August 2019.

Allegations regarding Walker’s past alleged behavior came to light as part of a complaint filed against him in August in the Seventh District Court of Appeals by convicted killer Terry Brown, 53, formerly of Wellsville. Acting as his own attorney for numerous writ of mandamus complaints related to his murder case, Brown accused Walker of perjury, falsification, obstruction of justice, retaliation, interfering with civil rights, forgery, tampering with records, tampering with evidence and dereliction of duty.

Walker was one of the investigators on the Brown case which involved the murder and dismemberment of Scottie Johnson in 2017. Brown was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for aggravated murder with a firearms specification, aggravated robbery, abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence. His appeals related to his conviction have all been dismissed.

The Seventh District Court of Appeals also recently dismissed the case Brown filed against Walker, noting the complaint didn’t comply with mandatory requirements for an inmate filing such an action. He didn’t file the proper paperwork to proceed without filing a cost deposit and the ruling said what Brown filed was more of a private citizen affidavit than a mandamus action. As a result, the court ruled that it had no jurisdiction to consider the citizen affidavit, which requested the court issue a warrant for Walker’s arrest based on various claims by Brown. Walker was represented in the case by the county Prosecutor’s Office.

According to documents in Walker’s personnel file, which had been provided as requested in September, McLaughin previously suspended Walker for three days without pay on June 21, 2021 for a violation described as wanton and willfully neglect duty. According to the violation notice, Walker had 13 items of evidence, drugs and paraphernalia in a box on May 10, 2021, some items not in evidence bags with no record where the items originated, not properly logged and drug evidence not entered into evidence.

He admitted to the charge and waived a predisciplinary hearing. He also received verbal instruction and caution for unsatisfactory job performance related to the disposal of unclaimed property in the evidence room on Jan. 21, 2021.

The file also included documents related to the school complaints and a meeting previous sheriff Ray Stone had with an attorney regarding alleged texts sent to a “much younger female.” Stone permanently banned Walker from working any special details at any schools as part of the internal discipline, citing the letters from the schools and the meeting with the attorney.

United Superintendent Lance Hostetler wrote that he received a complaint in August 2019 about Walker showing up uninvited to cheerleading practices and that he placed himself near the cheerleaders during events in September 2019 and December 2019, despite being told to stay on the visitor side. He was also told that Walker gave a mixed CD to one of the cheerleaders. He asked for an investigation into the allegations.

Southern Local Superintendent Tom Cunningham wrote a letter dated Dec. 17, 2019 asking that Walker not be assigned there due to him wandering about and not staying in the area requested for security.

In a letter dated Jan. 7, 2020 that was sent to Walker by Stone, Stone made note of multiple complaints from parents and school officials about his conduct toward cheerleaders at United High School, along with the letters from the two superintendents and the meeting with an attorney regarding the text messages.

“As a deputy sheriff of the Columbiana County Sheriff’s Office you are held to a high moral standard, and you represent our office and Columbiana County in everything you do,” Stone wrote.

Besides permanently barring him from working at any schools, Stone told Walker to accept the letter as a reprimand for his behavior and warned him further conduct or future complaints may be grounds for serious discipline, including immediate termination.

Walker’s personnel file included other documents recording discipline dating back to 1995 for issues such as being late, not caring for his cruiser properly, leaving the county without notifying dispatch to back up another police agency, not properly filing a complaint and demonstrating a lack of knowledge of the law.

In addition to the discipline, the personnel file included a large number of certificates detailing the training Walker completed over the years, including interview and interrogation training through the Federal Bureau of Investigation and numerous courses regarding child abuse and other investigations.

mgreier@mojonews.com

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