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Six Cleveland patrol officers were disciplined for their misdeeds earlier this year at the Marathon gas station on the 3900 block of St. Clair Avenue.

(Brandon Blackwell, Northeast Ohio Media Group)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Cleveland Patrol Officer John Hotz hung out with the clerk at a gas station and helped himself to smokes and scratch-off-tickets, according to the store's co-owner, Dawn Phillips.

"He would sometimes throw away losing tickets instead of paying for them," Phillips said. "[The clerk] would pretend to sell him cigarettes, then void out the sale and just give him the pack."

Hotz, who is among six officers recently found to have violated department rules, spent parts of his late-night shifts between Jan. 1 and March 3 loitering and gambling at the Marathon gas station at East 40th Street and St. Clair Avenue, according to city officials.

Phillips and her co-owner husband learned of what Hotz was doing in March.

They fired the woman and reported Hotz to police, sparking a six-month investigation into police activity at the gas station.

The investigation expanded beyond Hotz. Officials in October found six patrol officers guilty of offenses ranging from leaving a patrol area without permission to testing Tasers at the Marathon.

Phillips fears reprisals from police, she said.

The six officers -- Charles Boddy, Nicole Corea, Hotz, Robert O'Brien, Orville Taylor and Dustin Vowell -- were given unpaid suspensions ranging from six to 30 days for misconduct at the gas station.

According to disciplinary letters issued by Chief Calvin Williams and Safety Director Michael McGrath:

Hotz, the only officer of the six to receive a 30-day suspension, was found guilty of gambling while on duty, soliciting or accepting gratuities and falsifying daily duty reports.

Investigators found Hotz also abused sick leave and forged a return-to-work slip issued by a Parma hospital.

Corea and Taylor were suspended for 10 days and were found guilty of falsifying daily duty reports, gambling while on duty and other infractions.

Corea and Taylor "inappropriately conducted spark tests" at the gas station with their police-issued Tasers.

Boddy, O'Brien and Vowell each received six-day suspensions.

All three were found guilty of leaving an assigned patrol area without permission, falsifying daily duty reports, and soliciting or accepting gratuities.

Internal affairs investigators cleared the six officers of breaking any laws, said police spokesman Sgt. Ali Pillow.

Jeffrey Follmer, president of the Cleveland Police Patrolmen's Association, said the union will contest the suspensions of Boddy and O'Brien.

Both officers at one time served as Hotz's partner, but requested reassignment once they learned of Hotz's activity at the gas station, Follmer said.