000443 - 09029mmorgan

OPR 09-029 MARION MORGAN November 14, 2009

THIS IS SERGE ANT PAUL HOLSTI NE OF THE BULLHEAD CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT, OFFICE OF PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY. PRESENT WITH ME IS OFFICER MARION MORGAN AND YOU ARE MARION MORGAN, ARE YOU NOT?

MORGAN: Yes, I am.

HOLSTINE: and we’re at the Office of Professi onal Responsibility to interview on case #09-

029. It is Novem ber 14, 2009, at 1:56 p.m . And also Robert Trebes is present as rep. Um,

Marion have you had a chance to review the Notice of Administrative Investigation

M: Yes, I have.

H: in front of you there? And familiarize yourself with the allegations and the contents?

M: Yes, I have.

H: Okay. Um, alright. Do you understand your specific rights and responsibilities in this

investigation?

M: Yes, I do.

H: Okay. And do you have any questions about your specific rights a nd responsibilities in

this investigation?

M: No, I don’t.

H: Okay, sign down here on right, on the line. And I’ll sign beside ya, and we’ll get going

through this, but ah, up f ront, that’s a big ole cr ock pot full of allegation there. You got,

you want to dive into that? And address it?

M: (laughter), ah, I want to dive in and say it ’s all it is, is a crock. A bunch of rum ors and

lies.

H: Okay. Well, the reason I ask you that is b ecause I’m gonna want to hear a little bit more

than that from you

M: oh, I know.

H: as far as, as far as explaining your side of the story and your

M: absolutely.

H: and your part of it and so, I wa nt to give you a chance up front ju st to roll with it before I

start into basically reviewing what I’ve al ready done and questioning off of that, fair

enough? You want to go or do you want me to start?

M: Go ahead. That’s fine.

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H: Okay. So, let’s se e here. I will te ll ya that um , there are some of these things th at have

been fairly well put to rest ah, before, befo re now. Just based on me doing interviewing

with people. I’ve interviewed half a dozen people already. Some of these things have

been put to rest, som e of the m need to, we still need to ba sically touch on all of ‘em.

Some of them we need to dig into. Um , I’ll just go right off the list here. W hile Marion

Morgan was working for Sergeant Best, he asked Marion about Lori Battey and Marion

lied to him. And I, you understand that these ar e, that these allegations are actually kind

of second or third hand

M: Absolutely.

H: conversation between Tammy and Jamie, which Jamie was the one that came forward

M: Right.

H: and then

M: I do.

H: Okay. Um , now that is a reference to so me conversations which were allegedly had

between you and Sergeant Best, and then I think m aybe a second time between you,

Sergeant Best and Al Otero, where in som e manner ah, it’s my understanding that your

relationship or at th at tim e suspected alle gedly, whatever, relationship with Lori was

brought onto the tab le in the workp lace. Is th at accurate? That, th at at some point your

supervisor came to you and addressed that?

M: He addressed that there was a rumor of that.

H: Okay.

M: Yes.

H: How did that conversation go, and let’s star t with what I, what I, my inform ation

indicates is the first conversation

M: Okay, the first con

H: of that sort

M: the first conversation was, I was working days hift with him, he asked m e to 45 to with

him, so I met him down, I don’t remember where now, but, ah, down on the south end of

town

H: Uh-huh (acknowledgement).

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M: ah, pulled up, he said there was some concerns he had about ah, some of the officers were

making statements that I wasn’t working up to par and wasn’t ah, backing them up and

wasn’t being motivated and this type of thing. I told him, yeah, part of that was probably

true cause I was having a lot going on in my personal life at home. And ah, with Tammy,

so I said ah, you know, I said I’d w ork on it. Try to do better. I said I haven’t, didn’t

know that I wasn’t backing anybody up. I’ve never failed to try to back anybody up.

I’ve never f ailed to try to back anybody up or be there for them if they need help or

whatever else. And, but I told him that I would work on it and try to fix it. And he said,

well, there was, I also heard a rumor that, and he mentioned no names, just said I heard a

rumor that you and a certain dispatcher ha d something going on and I said, yeah, I’ve

heard that rumor too, and I said you know how ru mors are. And that’s all that was said.

At that meeting.

H: Okay. Alright, you know what? I’m gonna get a glass of water, anybody else want one?

I got free glasses, cause I’m giving them away. No? I’ll be right back. Okay, I ha d to

clean the bacteria out of that glass too. Um , so, um , my investigation at this point

indicates that there was al so a second ah, second convers ation in which Lori or a

dispatcher ah, was brought up in a work forum and that the conversation included you, Al

Otero and Glenn.

M: Uh-huh (affirmative).

H: Accurate?

M: Accurate.

H: Okay, tell me how that went.

M: Um, approximately a week and a half, two w eeks after the initial thing, ah, I got called in

on shift again.


M: Ah, said that they were upset with me because my attitude had, went bad with the guys I

worked with and stuff.

H: Right.

M: And I said, well, yeah, my attitude probabl y has, I said, you know, you’re telling me that

everybody’s saying I’m not helping them , I’m not doing things with ‘e m, I said I went

and talked to everybody on my shift and I said nobody on my shift told me anything that I

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was doing bad, other than Eric Teague told me that, you know, he had made a comment

in report writing one day about me not taking calls one day.


M: In beat one. And that’s what started this whole chain of events.

H: Yeah, I got inform ation on that but that’s not som ething that’s a ddressed in this

investigation.

M: But anyway, other than that , it was m entioned that ther e was this rum or going around,

nobody ever asked m e, are you seeing anybody? Are you doing this? They said there’s

this rumor going around you need to be careful about what you’re doing, what’s going on

because there’s this rumor going around and I told ‘em again, I said once again,

H: And when you’re talking, who are we, who are we talking about now, Teague or

M: Best.

H: Best.

M. Sergeant Best.

H: And, and this is when Otero’s present?

M: Yeah, Otero’s present.

H: Okay.

M: And ah, again I told him, I said well, you know, those rumors are floating around all over

the place and I know where they’re coming from, and I said it’s rumors. So,

H: Did you say to them yeah or nay, whether you were

M: No, did not

H: having a relationship with, with Lori, one way or another?

M: I told him that I was friends with her, and I left it at that. Never said, I was never asked if

I was having anything with her. I just said there’s a ru, they told m e there’s a rum or

going around.

H: Okay.

M: And so,

H: Alright. Um, and m y information is that after the initial convers ation that you had with

Glen, that within a day or two that he did a PPR?

M: Yes.

H: That’s accurate?

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M: Yes.

H: I’m trying to bracket in the time zone.

M: I know it was a few, several days after that

H: Okay.

M: I don’t remember exactly when.

H: And then I was, I was also told that there was a PPR entry that, that c oincided with th e

last conversation you described, correct?

M: ah,

H: In my

M: I only rem ember one. There could have been two, I don’t rem ember the first one. I

remember one that was about my attitude and something like that.

H: Just for background material. Were you having a hard time personally at that point?

M: Yes, I was.

H: And related to your marriage, the break up of your marriage that sort of thing.


H: Okay. As far as your re lationship with Lori Battey, um, how long have you been, how

long have you known her? Period. Just known her.

M: Ah, about two years.

H: Okay. Ah, how long in that period would you characterize your rela tionship with her as

being romantic, in, and I’ll spell it out, I’m talking about sexual.

M: Just a year and a half, maybe a little longer.

H: so there’s no, so there’s no, you know? We’re not gonna worry about (inaudible) is later

one.

M: That’s fine.

H: Anyway, um, okay. Alright, so what you’re saying is in essence, you never directly

addressed, tell me if I’m wrong. In essence y ou never really directly addressed w hether

or not there was a romance.

M: No, did not.

H: Okay. Were you ever, did they ever ask you specifically?

M: No. They did not.

H: Well, is there a romance here? Is there kissey, kissey, is there

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M: No.

H: you know, I’m being smart now but.

M: No, I was never asked directly, by anybody.

H: Okay. Were there any other conversations with ah, Otero or Best in which the Battey

relationship was addressed?

M: No.

H: What about anybody else? Any other supervisor, employee,

M: Yeah, Sergeant Messina, afte r I switched and went to h is shift, app roximately two or

three weeks later, (inaudible) was on a call one time and he said hey, he pulled me aside,

hey I heard this rum or going ar ound, and I told him the same thing, yep, th at’s rumor’s

going around. And he never asked me either specifically, he just said

H: Okay.

M: that well, you just need to be careful and stuff, cause there’s rumors floating around.

H: Well, just so you know, and this is backgr ound more for you than, than m e, but, this is

one of those issues that supervisors, I mean I’ve been tracking this for a while, you know,

hoping and praying that it never ended up on my desk. Um, because it hit the rum or mill

first of the year? Anyway, one of the things that, that s upervisors have been you know,

scratching their heads over to som e degr ee is you know, how much of this is our

business? You know? So what if Marion has som ething going on with Lori Battey, do

we care? And if so, what’s the reason behi nd it, and ah, one of the things that m y

investigation has shown that ah, whether there was valid re ason for it or not, there’s at

least a theory at som e point, that hey, Marion’s, you know, Ma rion’s ah, his productivity

is, his productivity is down, do you think Lori , is Lori Battey giving him the, you know,

giving him the shank treatment, I’ll explain that later, is, is Lori giving him easy

M: Right.

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H: Okay. Alright. Um , okay, next accusati on, Crawford was told Marion had threatened

her, um, it was her word against his and nothi ng further was done, and actually part of

that accusation is really ah, somewhat of a com plaint against ah, Bullh ead PD, ah, the

patrol bureau, lieutenant’s and sergeants that have been triaging all this stuff

M: Huh-uh (acknowledgement).

H: But, it refers to the night that Reid Mc Nally went down to your house and basically did a

civil standby?

M: Right.

H: Okay. And I’ve got documents and dates that line up behind that but was there ever more

than one time that Reid McNally came to your house and did a

M: No.

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H: civil standby?

M: One time.

H: So we can only be talking about one instance here when we

M: That’s correct.

H: talk about that. Okay. And about what, about when was this? Is th is this year? Last

year?

M: July, somewhere around the end of July. 25th? 30th?

H: Okay. In July, that sounds, that rings a be ll for me too, and like I said, in this stack here

I’ve got a CODY printout on it.

M: Somewhere between like the 25th and the 30th, right in there.

H: Okay, and just for background sake, this is a tim e when, when ah, you guys were

apparently until that night were living together

M: Yes.

H: and there were problems and somebody decided to, to leave the house, how, how did this

come about?

M: I was still living in the house, I’d already filed for the divorce.

H: And the house is where?

M: ah,

H: Ponderosa?

M: Ponderosa.

H: Okay. And is that in the city of Bullhead?

M: Yes, it is. Ah, I had moved to another be droom, I was staying in another bedroom, and

told her I’d stay ther e and we would keep doing what we were doing until the divorce

was final.

H: So you, so you had least attempted to live together


H: ah, in peace,

M: Yes.

H: while all things were worked out? Okay.

M: Ah, came to work, she called m e about ten minutes to midnight when I was fixing to get

off, said ah, don’t you come back to this fucking house, you’re not welcome here. I said,

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well, it’s still m y house as far I know, I’m coming home after I ge t off work. What’s

going on? And she just said, don’t you fuck ing com e to this dam n house unless you

bring another officer or supervisor.

H: And then what did you do?

M: So, I told Messina, I said this is what just happened. Ah, Reid was out there (inaudible)

H: You were just getting off work? Is that

M: Yes, I was fixing to get off work.

H: Ah, what shift?

M: Swing shift.

H: Okay.

M: And ah, Reid was standing out there so Mc Nally, I m ean, Messina to ld McNally, sa id I

don’t know what’s going on but you probably need to go up and standby, cause I told

Messina, I said well, I’m not gonna get into a fight with her, I’ll just go get som e stuff

and go stay elsewhere.

H: Huh-uh (acknowledgement).

M: So ah, Reid had a call up there at the park right next to the house anyways so,

H: Where is Pondersoa?

M: It’s up in ah,

H: Arroyo Vista?

M: Arroyo Vista, yeah.

H: Okay.

M: And so, I met Reid up there by the park, he followed me over at the house, ah, went in,

asked her w hat was going on, she started yel ling you’re not fucking welcom e here, get

your shit and go, ah, Reid told her well, you can’t really kick him out if he decides to stay

but he’s, he said he’d get his stuff and go, so

H: So is it accurate that you decided to leave with no legal prodding? I mean

M: Yes.

H: you didn’t, there wasn’t a court order that said you had to leave

M: No, no court order, no nothing.

H: no divorce documents or anything that specified

M: No.

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H: that you had an obligation to leave.

M: No.

H: Why did you decide to leave?

M: Because I wasn’t gonna fight with her, and ta ke a chance of getting in trouble at work, or

having a domestic.

H: Good decision. So, how long, how long was Reid present? And how long di d this

encounter take?

M: 5 minutes, 10 minutes maybe.

H: Okay. Um, you gathered stuff and left the house?


H: Anybody hit each other?

M: No.

H: Shot each other?

M: No.

H: Stab each other?

M: No.

H: Say bad words?

M: Ah, I didn’t.

H: Okay, cause that’s, that’s what, th at’s what this boiled down too is ah, um , Ta mmy

indicated that at some point while you were moving through the household you either lip

synced, mouthed or said works under your breath to her that she took as a threat of som e

kind, like you’ll get yours, or you got something coming.

M: Absolutely not.

H: Nothing

M: No.

H: Did you have an inner voice that told you that?

M: No.

H: No? Um, is it possible that you did something like that and don’t remember it?

M: No.

H: Okay. Did ah, did Reid McNally ever cau tion you about any of your behavior up there

that night? Did he ever tell you hey, settle down, stop talking, don’t say that, don’t use

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M: No, he (inaudible) fuck no.

H: that finger towards you wife, anything?

M: All, all he said was, she started talking back to me and trying to show him stuff in another

room,

H: Huh-uh (acknowledgement).

M: And I said you don’t need to be showing hi m that stuff and Reid said it’s okay, just go

ahead and get your stuff and let’s get out of he re. So, I finished getting my stuff and I

left.

H: Okay. Next allegation. Marion has refused to pay any bills, even though it is a violatio n

of the Departm ent’s general o rders to do so. Are you fam iliar with the Departm ent’s

general orders and their provisions on o fficers and taking care of our financial

responsibilities?

M: The basics of it, yes.

H: What’s your understanding of the basics on it?

M: That you’re, because o f our position your doing, responsible for tak ing care of your

financial responsibilities and everything like that.

H: Okay. Have you ah, made any financial moves or pulled, pushed and financial buttons in

the break up or dissolution of this marriage that would ha ve caused ah, Tammy or your,

your guys’ son?


H: Brandon? Ah, to be hom eless without power , without heat, without water, without ah,

anything to eat, anything like that?

M: No, I haven’t.

H: Um ,

M: Here’s what, here’s what the deal is. Okay? I hired an attorney for the divorce.

H: Right.

M: Ah, I consulted with him. He said ah, sh e wants to live in that house, and she wants her

truck, which is what she filed for in the divo rce, ah, he said you le t her pay those things,

he said you pay the other house in Kingm an, you ah, the other bills we’ll let the judge

decide as far as who pays, or who pays what, ah, so I’ve been paying the house in

Kingman, I’ve had to put a hold on it for a coupl e of months to give me a break, and then

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I started back paying it again. And ah, I took care of, even though he told me not to, I’ve

been paying, I have an HFC loan, which is a signature loan,

H: It’s a second or just a sig, you say it’s a signature loan?

M: It’s, yeah, signature loan. Ah, started back paying that. I paid off several other little bills

that we had, a T-Mobile bill, and bills, some other little bills.

H: Have you shut off any utilities on her?

M: No, I have not.

H: Have you changed out the names or the account holders on any utilities?

M: No, I have not.

H: So you’ve never, there’s never been any interruption in power

M: No.

H: service, water

M: Not by me.

H: power, water, heat, whatever at the house?

M: Unless she hasn’t paid it and they shut it off, but

H: Okay. But if it’s so, it’s not due to your doing?

M: Right. It is not.

H: Um, okay. Um , Crawford, ne xt allegation, Crawford also rec eived inf ormation f rom

Tammy Morgan indicating she possessed e-m ails hinting of Marion Morgan m eeting

with his girlfriend during work hours. Um , I ’ll tell you right of the bat there’s not

substantiation to that.

M: No, cause that’s bullshit.

H: Um ,

M: Excuse my language but

H: But I do want you to authenticate your e- mail address, what is your e-m ail address

currently?

M: It’s [email protected]

H: Okay. That’s, I got a e-m ail that shows that account for you. And how long have you

used that e-mail address?

M: I honestly don’t know, approximately six months, probably, maybe a little longer.

H: Okay.

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M: (laughter) strained relationship. The only tim e I had strained relationship with them girls

is when they got up to be you know, 16, 17, ri ght in there, cause they were sneaking out

of the house, and sneaking boys into the house, and that kind of stuff and that strained the

relationship, because they kept getting caught.

H: Uh-huh (acknowledgement). So they were being teenage girls?

M: Right. Other than that, no.

H: Okay.

M: I mean, I taught Cheri and her how to drive. Learn how to ride horses, I m ean, we’ve

done everything plum up until they left home together.

H: I think that brings us b ack around to the only conflict re solution we have left. Now,

going back to your conversations with Sergea nt Best, well, initia lly your conversation

with Sergeant Best. Sergeant Best indicate d that in his initial conversation with you,

were Lori, or the possibility of a relations hip with Lori was br ought up, was in field, I

think you said it was on Central Avenue?

M: Like I said, yeah, I was done in that part of the town

H: And we’ve already talked about it enough that I think we’re on the same page with it.

M: Right.

H: Um, he said this, I want, I want to know ah, if you agree or disagree with it. He said that

he basically asked you, he basi cally said, he put tw o questions into one question is what

he told m e essentially, was there was a question or an inferre d question about your

relationship with Lor i Battey, and in th e sam e brea th, is it po ssible, are you ge tting

special treatment from her because of the relationship. And your answer was sim ply no.

That you just, you just denied the whole thing, you said that that wasn’t true.

M: No, that’s not the way the conversation went.

H: Tell me again how the conversation went.

M: The f irst co nversation was sim ply af ter th e o ther s tuff was tha t th ere was this r umor

going around, he never mentioned a name period. He said a dispatcher. About you and a

dispatcher. There’s this rum or going around and you need to b e careful because this

rumor going around can get you in trouble. And I said, yeah, I’ve heard that rum or and

you know how rumors are.

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H: Well, the rumor doesn’t get you in trouble, but um, you know, I guess the elephant in the

room in this whole case is, is you know, and I’m not knock ing your, your, ah, choice to,

to be involved in your relati onship with Lori, nice enough lady, but considering w here

your wife was working at the time, I mean,

M: Understood. But that wasn’t initially, wasn’t

H: did you ever at any point go, jeez, this might blow up in my face.

M: Yes, I did.

H: Not a policy violation, just

M: Absolutely.

H: had to ask you that. (laughter). Um , anyway, um , t he other one is the second

conversation. The second conversation in which we’ve already discussed once, that

involved you, Al Otero and Glenn Best.

M: Right.

H: Their take on that conversa tion is different than yours, a nd basically it is, there’s no

mistaking it, he denied that he was having a relationship with Lori Battey. W hat’s your

take on that?

M: They never asked me. Nobody has ever asked me specifically, or mentioned her by name

to me.

H: Uh-huh (acknowledgement). Did you ever, did you every think then, or even in hindsight

that it m ight have behooved you to say, well, I know who you’re ta lking about, yes, we

are having a relationship, but no, there’s nothing against the ru les ab out what w e’re

doing? Did it ever cross your m ind to clarify that to ‘em ? And I’ m not disputing what

you’re saying about how this conversation went

M: No it didn’t simply

H: but

M: simply because ah, I was trying to keep all that out of the PD, and I wasn’t going to bring

stuff up if I was specifically asked, in othe r words, if you sit here and ask m e are you

having an affair with Lori Battey? Yes, I am. If you say there are rumors going around

that your having an affair with Lori Battey, I’m gonna tell you that’s rumors.

H: And it sounds to m e like you kind of have a specific strategy of why you ah, chose to

respond that way.

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M: No, no specific, I mean, other,

H: You didn’t want to bring it into work

M: other than I didn’t want to bring it into work.

H: You didn’t want to bring it into work.

M: Right.

H: Okay. Ah, cause bringing it into work is the only thing that gets us here.

M: Well, I know that.

H: Into this office.

M: But I’m not the one who brought it into work. You can ask

H: I agree.

M: anybody around, I have kept it quiet, I’ve kept everything out of this PD

H: Right. Okay, and I’m not, I’m not, ah, I’m not disputing that, ah, it’s obvious how this

got here. Why is it, how do we, how do we deal with the disc repancy between your

version of what happened in this conversation and Al Oter o and Glenn Best, I m ean is

this simply a perception issue?

M: I think it’s a perception issue, yes.

H: Do you think it was som ething about th at conversation that som ebody could have

misunderstand, misunderstood what question was asked or what was being talked about,

or

M: Well, it had to be m isunderstood if that’s, if they’re saying different than that. Because

that was my understanding of it, was there was never a name mentioned to me, period.

H: Do you understand why this is kind of an important point?

M: Absolutely. I’m not trying to hide anything or I’ve got nothing to hide. I, no way, in any

form or fashion would lie to them. If I was asked.

H: Okay. I wa nt, I want to get off of t hat for a minute, cause there’s something I wanted to

ask you about this, this stuff that Sarah to ld me about you p utting your hand on her leg.

Do you have a daughter about her age?

M: Yes, I do. Well, not quite her age, 15, 16 now.

H: Underage girl?


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H: There’s nothing, the

M: I didn’t

H: Department has not say in that. No stake in that.

M: She used to and then she got on this kick oh, that’s the most horrible, horrific thing in the

world for you to do. And so, when I filed the divorce and she started finding out that she

wasn’t going to get child support and this type of thing then she attacks m e to try to get

full custody of my son, and m ake me lose her job, and then she can take Brandon and

move to wherever she wants to, and, be with her family and that’s the only way, the only

tool she has to beat me. Cause I haven’t done anything.

H: Okay. Alright. Um , I have covered pre tty m uch every thing I n eed to cover bu t I’ m

gonna go through my documents, and I got a lot of ‘em. And authenticate documents and

probably come up with a few more detaily questions. I’ve got a ah, couple of PPR’s here,

is what everybody calls ‘em . It says Patrol Supervisors Inspection Report. Um , and I

was told that there one and sam e. One of ‘em’s written up on you on the 4th of June,

2009. And accord ing to, according to my investigation, and ah, everyone I’ve talked to,

it seems that th is PPR would ha ve been written up ah, within maybe a day of so of the

first conversation that you had with Glenn Best, in the field, where Lori Battey’s, where

the, her role in any of this was discussed. Do you kind of concur with that? The 4th of

June?

M: I don’t remember what date it was. I don’t.

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H: And I’ll, I’ll go ahead, since you don’t rem ember, I’ll read the notes out loud and see, or

you read the notes and see if that rings any be lls for you as far as that jiving up with the

time f rame. Like I sa id, this, I b elieve th is w ould have happened right after the first

conversation with you and Glenn about Lori, an d other things, but Lori was working in

the first time.

M: Yeah, this is the one I got.

H: Okay. And I got a second PPR he re. It’s dated the 26th of June, 2009. And all m y

investigative interviewing indicates that th is was the PPR that was possibly done at the

same time, or the same, in the same meeting, is when you met with Otero and Best.


H: Is that, sound like the dates are right?

LONG PAUSE

M: Yeah.

H: Okay. Keep what we’v e already done under here. Th ere’s gonna be a lot of long

silences on the tape he re while I review som e of these th ings and see if I can pull any

questions out of ‘em . A lot of these are wr ite ups of the various supervisory kind of

issues that were going on at the tim e and much of it, much of what’s documented here is

not subject m atter for this investigation. B ut you said that, a while ago you said

something about that you said that you thought that the, you and ah, and Lori Battey had

been a romance for approximately the past year and a half, is that correct?

M: Yeah, maybe a little longer.

H: Okay.

M: I don’t know a specific date and

H: But certainly at the time tha t you had these conversations with Bes t and then with Best

and Otero, there would have, you would have been involved in a rom antic relationship

with her at that tim e? Ye s or no? Or you can, we can parson into each individual

conversation, but

M: I don’t know, there’s a couple of times me and her split apart and would have anything to

do with each other for a while, and exactly when I don’t know, but

H: Were any of them near, were any of them in June of this past year?

M: There was one of them

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H: It looks like

M: there was one of ‘em that was in that time frame, yes.

H: So is it possible that during one or more of those conversations you m ay have been on a

break or a

M: Yes, it is possible.

H: hiatus in the relationship with Lori

M: Yes, it is possible.

H: at the time of the conversation or conversations?

M: It is possible. Yes.

H: But we don’t know?

M: Don’t know.

H: Is there anyway to bracket that in?

M: Ah, I don’t know what the dates we split up.

H: I mean did you guys keep your relationship calendared?

M: No.

H: Just checking. (long pause) Other than these conversations that we talk about, have you

gone to any ah, Bullhead PD supervisors or m anagers a h, to address issues that in

someway relate to your breakup with Tammy?

M: Yes, I have.

H: And ah, are any of those, were any of t hose related to what we ’ve covered in these

interviews?

M: Ah, the only one I went to in relation to this was ah, Lieutenant Duke, when m e and Best

had our second meeting.


M: I told him I didn’t agree with the PPR.


M: I hadn’t been there th e last week that he wa s referring to as far as this whole last week,

ah, your attitude hasn’t change d, da, da, da, da. I was gone that whole week to train.

And so I told him , I said I don’ t agree with that, I wasn’t ev en here. And I said I think

you’re starting to m ake this personal a nd I said you know, you got to quit m aking it

personal

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H: okay.

M: and so, I told him I said I’m gonna go to Lieutenant Duke and talk to him.

H: Okay.

M: And he said, go ahead.

H: Alrighty. And did that get resolved in your

M: Yes.

H: mind? Okay. Here’s that e-m ail I wa s talking about, can you confirm ah, yours and

Lori’s e-mail addresses?

M: Yeah.

H: So that one of them’s yours and that’s the fu-man address

M: Yes, that ones mine.

H: and the (inaudible – sounds like medic 106)

M: That’s hers.

H: is hers? Okay. And you recognize this, this is a copy of a card, you recognize that?

M: Yeah, that’s one that Lori gave me.

H: Okay. And if I remember right that card refers to like a one year anniversary of, of your,

well, Lori characterized as basically as a one year anniversary not of your friendship or

your knowing each, of your rom ance if you will, and it’s, is th ere a date on here

somewhere? No. I don’t think there’s a date on here, but apparently it was like

M: It was like December, January, somewhere in there. I think, I don’t remember for sure.

H: December or January was when you received the card or

M: I think so when I received the card.

H: Okay, so that would have been reflected of you guys being ah, involved rom antically for

a year prior to that?

M: Naw, I think we started being romantic in July, somewhere around June or July, year ago,

H: Okay.

M: from this last June or July.

H: Alright.

M: Right in there somewhere.

H: And these are, these are actually the ha rd copies of those photo’s of nude on the

computer. Okay. Alright, the only thing I want to cover one m ore tim e are the

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conversations, one at a time, between, starting out with the, the Best and Marion Morgan

conversation in the field that we spoke about. I think we’ve talked about it twice already.

Um, I want, in as much detail as you can give m e, what was said during that

conversation?

M: I’ll give you as m uch detail as I remem ber. He wanted m e to 45 with him, I pulled up,

talked about the com plaints some officers had I wasn’t doing anything, said, you know,

there’s this rum or going around about you a nd a dispatcher, and you having som ething

going on with them, and I said, yeah, I’ve heard that rumor and I said it’s just rumors, and

you know how rumors are.

H: Did he also address th e theory or whatev er you want to call it of you getting preferential

treatment?

M: That was on the second one I think,

H: Okay.

M: when he brought, when that one was (inaudible)

H: well, let’s stick with the first one for now. Um, did you ah, we spoke of this before but

ah, at that time you would have been involved with Lori, you probably knew who he was

referring to and the rumor he was talking about

M: Yes, I did.

H: tell me again why you chose to, to hand wipe the question the way you did?

M: Because I was never directly asked if I was hav ing an affair, or any thing going on with

her. I was told there’s this rum or going around about you and her and I wasn’t going to

bring it in the workplace and st art a whole bunch of m ess, so I just said that’s rumors for

you.

H: Okay. Let’s move on to the second conversation. I think you know the one we’re talking

about.

M: Uh-huh (acknowledgement).

H: You, Otero, Best, probably on the 27th of, 27th of June. W henever that PPR entry was .

In as much detail as you got. Now I understand that there were performance issues

M: Right.

H: and all that stuff addressed. But I, I want to know how the Lori relationship wa s

addressed by everybody.

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M: I really don’t rem ember other than the sa me way, that you know, there’s still this rumor

floating around, like I said, I do think ther e was som ething mentioned about you know,

somebody said something about her giving me, ah, holding calls, and not giving me calls,

or something, and ah, I said no, that’s not true. And ah, I said you know, it’s rumors.

H: It seem s to m e that ah, that ah, being asked that question at that tim e m ight have

prompted your memory as to whether you were even involved with her at that point.

M: I don’t rem ember. Like I said there was two different tim es that we split up and th ere

was once, it was, we were apart for about two months.

H: Right. I mean I was, I was told that basically you weren’t thrilled with either one of those

conversations when you were approache d. You know, you weren’ t really happen,

certainly after the second one.

M: No, I wasn’t happy after the second one.

H: I mean, did you ever have the, did the thought ever cross your mind, well, yeah, I was but

I’m not anymore. We’re broke up.

M: No.

H: Like I said, I’m trying to bracke t it in if there’ s, if it’s pos sible that you weren’t even

seeing her at that point.

M: It is possible I wasn’t seeing her at that point, cause that’s right in one of the time frames,

June or Ju ly, right in th ere somewhere where we were ap art for a while. And I was n’t

even seeing her. And then righ t, in fact, we had just, I think I had just seen her like once

when I moved out before that, is when we had just got back together.

H: Okay, now,

M: When I moved out from the house.

H: explain that to me.

M: We had been apart and when I got booted out of the house over here

H: And when you’re talking about booted out of the house, is th is, how’s this all line up to

this Reid McNally ah, civil standby?

M: That’s all on the same night.

H: That’s booted out of the house that night?

M: Yeah.

H: Okay. And we were, you were talking. Sorry I interrupted.

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M: And I had just, just went back to seeing her. Just before that.

H: Okay. Alright. I think I am done but I am, I’m gonna go ahead and read through the, I

got everybody’s interviews boiled down that might prompt a couple more questions, and,

lot of silences in between. You guys want to take a break or som ething, now might be a

good time.

Unidentifiable: Yeah, need to go pee.

Unidentifiable: Where’s the restroom at?

H: Right across the hall. (57:25 door opening/closing. Long , long silence – hear pages

turning – paper shuffling – finger tapping – door opening/closing 60:26). Okay, just

for the transcriber, everybody’s back in th e room now, it’s 4 o’clock. And, you know

what? I’m pretty confident that I’ve got ev erything on, on the record that we need to do,

so. You got anything you want to add?

M: Yeah, I have ah, a lot that I want to add, but

H: Go ahead.

M: ah, you know I’ve been doing this job for 25 years here, Sergeant. And I’ve taken a lot of

pride in upholding the law, pr otecting people, ah, I’ve ra ised kids m y whole life, I’ve

never done anything to any kid th at are underage in any way, ex cept be a parent to them.

Ah, I’ve never been in vestigated for anything at work, or anywhere else. Ah, till now.

And I’ve taken a lot of pride in that. Even I.A.’s or disciplinary action or anything else.

H: Your saying you’ve never been through an I.A. investigation before.

M: No. I’m saying I have personally haven’t had an I.A. investigation. I’ve been a witness

to I.A.’s

H: But you’ve never been a subject.

M: Never been a subject of an I.A.

H: Okay. I’m sorry to interrupt you, go ahead.

M: and ah, you know, this stuff with her daughter s, I find it am azing because like I said, we

were clos e the whole tim e until the y m oved out, we’ve be en close ev er sin ce th ey’ve

moved out, nothing’s ever been said, nothing’ s ever been brought up, mentioned by them

or their mother to me, in any shape, form or fashion of any of these kind of com plaints,

and now all of a sudden I file for divorce a nd ask for (inaudible) custody of m y son and

now all this is popping up.

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H: Yeah, it’s clear that this

M: I think it’s ludicrous

H: It’s clear that this is a situation where you know, people have motive to play games. I’m

sorry, go on if you’ve got more.

M: but ah, that’s basically it, you know, I

H: Do you have anything else to say to address the possible inconsistencies between your

perception of conversations between you an d Sergeant Best, and then conversations

between you, Sergeant Best and Corporal Otero?

M: No. To the best of m y memory, and what I remember of the conversations, that is what

took place. Is there a possibility that you know, we m isunderstood each and it d idn’t

come out? Absolutely.

H: Am I clear in m y understanding that alt hough you knew what subject they were poking

into, you chose not to volunteer any information in an effort to keep the subject out of the

workplace realm?

M: That is fact.

H: Anything else you want to add?

M: That’s it.

H: Alrighty. You got some documents there that you want to add to the records?

M: No, it’s just

H: Okay. We’ll end the interview at 16:03.

Transcribed by Debbie Chastain, A dministrative Assistant to the Chief of Police, Bullhead City Police Department. December 8, 2009.

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