Sheriff investigates theft of records related to lawsuit

Attorney who filed suit wants compensation for client, answers about missing records.

Montgomery County Sheriff Phil Plummer is investigating what he called an “orchestrated” inside job to steal or destroy records at the center of a federal lawsuit brought by a Brookville woman who was pepper sprayed while constrained at the county jail.

Amber Swink was in a seven-point harness when she was pepper-sprayed Nov. 15, 2015, by then Sgt. Judith Sealey, who has since been promoted to captain. Swink sued Sealey, Plummer and other county officials in Dayton's District Court.

Besides excessive force, the lawsuit written by attorney Douglas Brannon alleged departmental violations and a coverup because some internal records of the incident have disappeared — including a video of the incident that Brannon has but the sheriff’s office does not.

Brannon said Thursday at a press conference Sealey’s actions “certainly can’t be tolerated from our law enforcement officers, especially those who are in supervisory positions with the sheriff’s department, to brutally assault inmates in such a manner.”

Brannon wouldn’t divulge how or when he obtained the video.

“This looks orchestrated from within the inside,” Plummer told this news organization Thursday. “It’s disturbing because, you know, we have faith in our employees. Systems are set up that employees have access to all these records to do their jobs.

“So now, somebody thinks something wasn’t handled properly. They’re going to steal records. This is a theft. This is obstructing official business. This is tampering with evidence.”

Plummer said the original incident report exists, as does Sealey’s “letter of caution” discipline. The sheriff pointed out that incident took place in November 2015, Sealey was promoted in January 2016, he was made aware of the incident in March 2016 and that he just saw the video on Wednesday. “So any allegation that this is a possible coverup is totally absurd,” he said.

Plummer said Sealey’s use of force report, the log of when jail employees checked on Swink in the harness chair and the video are missing.

All of those, Plummer said, are supposed to be taken by a sergeant from the jail to the sheriff’s office.

“I’ve never seen the video (before Wednesday). The attorney has it. The client has it. How did they get it?” Plummer asked. “It came from the jail here, right across the street.

“There’s no records of the sergeant getting robbed walking across the street with the packet. So, somewhere in between there, it’s missing.”

Plummer also said he would review Sealey’s discipline.

“If I would have actually seen the video and seen the extent of the situation, there might have been more severe discipline,” the sheriff said. “This isn’t over yet now that I’m getting more of the facts that apparently disappeared.”

Plummer said video of use of force incidents get pulled off a server into a separate file, and “we’re assuming that was done.” The group of videos gets logged by month, but he said the November 2015 file is empty.

“The month before, the month after is all the way it should be,” he said. “(November is) gone. So, to me, that says somebody deleted it and tampered with it. We’ve got to get that forensically looked at.”

The original incident report submitted by Sealey states: “(Swink) continued yelling for over an hour and thirty minutes after she was sprayed and placed in the (restraint) chair at (7:27 p.m.).”

The time stamp on the video when Sealey blasts Swink with oleoresin capsicum (OC) is 8:58 p.m.

“(Swink) was given another burst of OC spray due to her continued yelling,” the report continued. “(Swink) was removed from the restraint chair after two hours, she was showered, dressed and housed on the first floor cell 120 without further incident.”

“(Yelling) certainly doesn’t warrant discharging a can of pepper spray point-blank range into somebody’s face to such a point to cause a person to become unconscious, gagging,” Brannon said. “She’s lucky she’s still alive, really.”

Swink’s attorney said his client hopes for monetary compensation, for Sealey to be fired and for the office to answer for missing documentation. “We have a lot of great concerns about the integrity of the sheriff’s department at this point,” Brannon said.

“All of this stuff gets taken,” Plummer said, adding that some allegations are false and egregious. “The victim never comes back and complains. … Obviously, somebody’s gone to her and solicited this lawsuit.”

Plummer said his plan is to conduct criminal and internal investigations and noted that members of his office have been threatened on social media.

“The entire incident is under investigation now that we’ve been made aware of the video that we believe was stolen or destroyed from the organization,” the sheriff said. “So, it’s an ongoing investigation. It’s early in it, but it will be dealt with.”

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