LORAIN — Investigators and attorneys with the U.S. Department of Justice will be in Lorain for a week next month as part of the ongoing federal investigation into allegations of excessive force by members of the Lorain Police Department.

The Justice Department officials, who will be accompanied by three consultants, plan to interview Lorain police command staff and police officers, conduct ride-alongs and observe training sessions, according to a letter sent last month to Assistant Lorain Law Director R.J. Budway.

The Justice Department launched its investigation into the department in November, but federal officials have repeatedly declined to discuss what prompted the interest in Lorain police or the status of the case.

Past stories
May 7: Search warrant of ex-cop’s home staying sealed
Nov. 23, 2008: Police chief hopes for closure
Nov. 22, 2008: Lorain PD investigated
Sept. 5, 2008: Rivera insists probe’s above board
Sept. 4, 2008: Officer says he’ll sue letter writer
Sept. 3, 2008: Who ordered anonymous letters raid?
Aug. 30, 2008: Former Lorain cop is target of FBI raid

But at-large City Council members Anne Molnar and Mitch Fallis had requested the Justice Department to launch a probe into the Police Department a few months before the investigation began.

After receiving complaints from residents and police, they said they felt they had to ask for an independent investigation. Among the complaints they forwarded were allegations of police brutality.

The federal investigation came just months after Lorain police, the FBI and other law enforcement agencies raided the Wickliffe home of former Lorain police officer and sex offender Joseph Montelon in search of evidence that he was the writer of a string of anonymous anti-police letters that have been sent to public officials and journalists for years.

Montelon had been funneling internal Lorain police documents to Molnar and others for years, and they believe the raid on his home was part of an effort to silence a critic and uncover the source who was feeding documents to him.

Montelon has not been charged, and Lorain County Prosecutor Dennis Will said Tuesday that investigation is ongoing.

Molnar said Tuesday that she has been asked not to discuss the Justice Department investigation by Jonas Geissler, the senior trial attorney in the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, who sent the letter to Budway last month.

“I hope something positive will come out of this whole investigation,” she said.

Geissler’s letter also thanked Lorain officials for providing some of the documents the Justice Department has already requested as part of its investigation.

Among the documents investigators asked for in December were policies and procedures for the use of force, internal and external investigations over use of force, use of force complaints and incident reports and how the department defines “canine bites” and “canine apprehension.”

The Justice Department also asked for information on lawsuits, discipline, “at-risk” officers, training and residential search warrants obtained between June 2008 and December 2008.

Geissler wrote that more documents may be requested during the Aug. 17 to Aug. 21 visit by Justice Department officials.

The Lorain Police Department has been plagued with problems in recent years, including lawsuits and criminal charges against four former police officers that range from rape to menacing by stalking to theft in office.

Police officers have also been accused of — and, in many cases, punished for — allegations including arriving at work drunk, disrespectful language, abusing sick time and stalking.

Police Chief Cel Rivera, who has said he welcomes the federal investigation, and police union President Buddy Sivert did not return calls seeking comment.

Contact Brad Dicken at 329-7147 or bdicken@chroniclet.com.

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