By Aisling Swift
Naples Daily News
NAPLES, Fla. — Amy Young, a Naples Police sergeant injured in a domestic violence shooting in July that left her officer boyfriend dead, has been visiting the police station regularly as a criminal investigation continues.
Fellow officers, three police management experts and some City Council members say they consider Young’s regular visits inappropriate until the State Attorney’s Office announces the results of its review of the Lee County Sheriff’s investigation into the July 9 shooting.
Officer Luis “Dave” Monroig, 37, was killed in the shooting and Young received a gunshot wound to her chin that exited through her cheek and cut her ear.
“You need to get the cloud of suspicion away from her before you bring her back in,” said James D. Sewell, a former assistant commissioner of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and a former Gulfport chief of police. “It would appear to be inappropriate until the investigation is completed. She needs to be cleared ... as it leads to a lot of ill feelings and dissension in the agency.”
Sewell, who once headed the Florida Criminal Justice Executive Institute, called it unusual for an agency to allow an officer on unpaid leave to come to the station regularly while under investigation.
“This is just a bizarre situation,” Sewell said.
But because Young has not been named a suspect in the killing, Naples Police Chief Tom Weschler said his “only recourse is to treat her like anyone else in the police department.” Weschler said he wasn’t aware her visits were frequent, but said there is nothing wrong with her coming to the station because Lee County Sheriff Mike Scott would have alerted him to potential concerns.
“I’m waiting for the facts of the investigation,” Weschler said.
Assistant City Manager Roger Reinke, the Marco Island Police chief for eight years, also noted no one has branded Young a suspect.
“I have not heard anybody with any knowledge say what happened. All I’ve heard is rumors,” Reinke said. “She may well be a victim.”
However, some council members question why Young’s been given such freedom since Capt. Richard Carr first brought her to the station Aug. 2, a Saturday, after he said she’d asked to see the seven patrol officers she supervises.
Four Naples officers, who spoke to the Daily News on condition of anonymity out of fear for their jobs, confirmed Young visits frequently, chats with employees, and checks emails and police reports. Weschler confirmed that Young has the same access to reports and emails as other officers, noting that officers have access to email at home but are discouraged from checking it if they’re not working.
“Since we’re still awaiting the results of the investigation, I do feel it’s inappropriate that she’s spending a considerable amount of time at the police station,” said Councilman Doug Finlay.
“We have a situation where another police officer has been killed ... and we don’t know the results of the investigation and whether she has culpability,” he added. “I think that puts officers in an uncomfortable situation at the police station until the results of the investigation are out.”
Councilwoman Teresa Heitmann agreed, saying, “I think it’s inappropriate for someone under investigation to go to work.”
Sheriff’s investigators have remained tight-lipped about the circumstances that led up to Monroig’s death at Young’s Estero home. They haven’t revealed who wielded guns, if city police guns were involved or if Young will be charged.
The incident report showed it wasn’t Young or Monroig who called 911 at 12:56 a.m. Deputies approached the front door and saw Young suffering from a gunshot wound and found Monroig shot inside; he was taken off life support later that day.
“It’s always up to the State Attorney’s Office to charge,” Sheriff Scott said, adding that State Attorney Steve Russell may disagree with his detectives’ findings.
Scott declined to detail the recommendations, tests conducted, evidence reviewed and the number of witnesses questioned, saying Russell asked him to wait until prosecutors finish their review.
Detectives looked at “a great volume of evidence before, during and the aftermath,” Scott said, declining to say whether he’d let a deputy visit his agency while being investigated in a shooting with similar circumstances. He branded the shooting “unique.”
“If I feel that the community is in any shape or form in danger, of course it’s my obligation to report that,” Scott said. " ... When the results are out, everyone will agree it’s about as professional an investigation as anyone could do.”
Young, a 14-year veteran, was released from the hospital two weeks after the shooting and allowed 12 weeks of leave under the Family Medical Leave Act. She received $8,005.51 of accrued paid leave, according to City Human Resources Director Denise Perez, who said Young exhausted that and is now on approved leave without pay.
The Fraternal Order of Police contract says officers with 14 years’ tenure have up to 247½ hours of personal leave.
“We do not have a policy that prohibits an employee on personal leave from visiting their department,” Perez said, noting Young hasn’t been branded a suspect in a criminal investigation. “If an employee is charged with a serious criminal offense, we do have a policy that states he/she will be relieved of duty immediately until such time as a disposition of the charge is rendered by a court of law.”
Officers say Young’s doctor cleared her for duty. Perez said her office’s fitness for duty process is still pending.
Last week, city leaders launched a new probe into a 2012 internal affairs investigation that looked into anonymous allegations of misconduct by seven officers including Monroig and Young. The anonymous letter accused Young of having sex on the job, threatening to shoot three people in the head and accidentally discharging her gun and Taser in the past.
The letter also noted that at the 6 a.m. roll call hours after the shooting, Weschler told officers Monroig shot Young and then took his own life.
“That was right after the incident, we were still receiving information. In hindsight, I should not have said anything at that point,” Weschler said Friday. “It was based on information we were receiving initially and it would have been best to wait. A lot of stuff was coming in at that time a lot of facts we were receiving. It was an emotional time and it was a fluid investigation. It’s Lee County sheriff’s investigation, not mine.”
Ray Bass, an attorney representing Monroig’s ex-wife, criticized law enforcement for refusing to brand Young a target and failing to disclose details of the criminal investigation.
“If they have determined that he died other than by the act of another person -- homicide -- there is no need for SAO review and the report should be released,” Bass said.
Young has declined to comment, but her defense attorney, Donald Day, has said she committed no criminal offense and will vigorously defend herself.
Chuck Drago, a former Oviedo Police chief and past senior law enforcement advisor to the governor, said if Young were in trouble, she’d be placed on administrative leave, which has not occurred. However, he said the chief should make her status clear to officers -- and the public.
“It’s very odd,” Drago said. “Someone has dropped the ball on how they’re dealing with this. It just doesn’t make sense.”
Copyright 2014 the Naples Daily News