Details emerge in indicted officer’s case

MANSFIELD – City police Officer Mike Garn might have used his badge to get what he wanted.

Garn, 41, was indicted on 40 charges, including 25 felonies. More details of the case are emerging with Thursday’s unsealing of the indictment.

Garn is charged with 17 counts of misuse of a computer, 14 counts of dereliction of duty, burglary, trespass into a habitation, attempted gross sexual imposition, attempted sexual battery, two counts of tampering with evidence, sexual battery and public indecency.

The initial complaint dealt with a conversation that implied evidence could be destroyed in exchange for a sexual favor.

“Destroying evidence in exchange for anything or without pursuing a criminal offense is a dereliction of duty,” Mansfield police Chief Ken Coontz said.

Coontz detailed some of the other claims.

“There’s another allegation of a case where he may have engaged in sexual conduct in exchange for not incarcerating a person,” he said. “There were allegations that he was harassing a female that he stopped on a car stop and allegations that he was misusing his computer to run license plates on multiple co-workers and checking the license plates of cars that were visiting one of the female complainants.”

Coontz stopped short of saying Garn had sex while on duty. He is accused of sexual battery, a third-degree felony, in connection with a reported April 2013 incident.

Four charges allegedly occurred between June 1, 2014, and Sept. 15, 2014. Those include burglary — the most serious of the 40 charges — trespass into a habitation, attempted gross sexual imposition and attempted sexual battery.

The dates for the alleged menacing by stalking were Dec. 1, 2012, to Sept. 15, 2014.

“Another allegation is he offered not to issue a citation in exchange for a phone number,” Coontz said. “That goes hand in hand with some of the other charges. It ties in with the burglary and the misuse of the (computer) system.

“Public indecency, (computer) misuse, they all lead to multiple cases.”

Garn reportedly used the law enforcement computer system to identify women for dates.

“There were at least five complaints that we received that concerned harassing activity,” Coontz said. “All the complainants except for one are believed to have been heroin addicts. Destroying heroin, destroying evidence, that’s where that connection came in.”

Garn remains on paid administrative leave, where he has been since Nov. 26. He has been at the city police department since 2008.

“He’s had some difficulties while he’s been here, but nothing (that rises) to this level,” Coontz said. “Most deal with him being discourteous during traffic stops and citizen complaints.

“It looks like he received discipline for unsatisfactory performance in February 2010 and another unsatisfactory performance in March 2010. Then again, in March 2010, he was rude during a car stop and was disciplined again.”

Kim Corral, a union attorney, did not return a call for comment.

Coontz stands by his department, saying Mansfield has many excellent officers. He also pointed out some of those officers alerted the administration to Garn’s alleged activities.

“Our police department is not defined by one officer and one officer’s misconduct,” Coontz said. “As unsettling as these incidents are, we’re still proud that our officers are the ones who unraveled this and brought this to light.”

mcaudill@gannett.com

419-521-7219

Twitter: @MNJCaudill