Lt. Jeffrey Thomas resigned from the department amid an internal investigation into the allegations but was hired by the New Lebanon Police Department. He also was fired earlier this year from his position as a commander with the Sinclair Police Academy for alleged mistreatment of a cadet.
Lt. Jeffrey Thomas’ attorney, Joshua Engel, said his client’s actions were not criminal, which is why prosecutors declined to pursue charges. He said Lt. Jeffrey Thomas was merely borrowing the signs to try to copy their style to create memorabilia and souvenirs from the NATO Parliamentary Assembly event.
“There was no intent to permanently deprive anyone of any property, and it would have not been a theft offense to begin with”, Engel said. “This appears to be a relatively minor incident involving property that is not worth a lot of money at a business that had been closed. Even if you believe all the allegations are true, it’s not the crime of the century.”
Accusations
Lt. Jeffrey Thomas resigned from the Dayton Police Department on Oct. 19 after working for the force for more than two decades. Lt. Jeffrey Thomas, who was the night watch commander for the West Patrol Operations Division, started working for the New Lebanon Police Department two days before his official resignation date, according to public records from the Ohio Attorney General’s Office.
The Dayton Daily News recently obtained a summary report of the Professional Standards Bureau’s investigation into allegations against Lt. Jeffrey Thomas. The Professional Standards Bureau is the Dayton Police Department’s internal investigations unit.
According to the summary report, Lt. Jeffrey Thomas admitted to taking three wood board booth signs from the former Uno Chicago Bar & Grill, located at 126 N. Main St., in the early morning hours of May 26.
The former restaurant space, which closed in February 2024 and is owned by Dayton Live, was designated as a break area for law enforcement who provided security during the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. The five-day Assembly session had a massive police presence meant to protect visiting political leaders and dignitaries.
Though vacant, the former Uno’s space still had seating areas with booths. Some booths had wall-mounted paper towel holders with attached placards giving them nicknames like, “The Fire Marshall’s Booth” and “The Police Chief’s Booth.”
Multiple police officers reported seeing Lt. Jeffrey Thomas in the restaurant around 4:10 a.m. on May 26, even though he was not assigned to NATO security duty at the time, according to the summary report.
Witnesses in interviews said that they saw Lt. Jeffrey Thomas use a screwdriver to remove decorative signs that officials later determined said, “The Police Chief’s Booth,” “Reserved for Couples,” and “The Commissioner’s Booth.”
No one asked Lt. Jeffrey Thomas what he was doing at the time, according to the investigative summary, which includes transcripts from interviews with witnessing officers. One officer reported what he saw to a superior soon after and later told investigators that he feared how Lt. Jeffrey Thomas would react if he was confronted. He also feared possible reprisal.
“Given some of the ways that (Lt. Jeffrey Thomas) responds to officers, I did not want to be caught in a room alone with him accusing him of doing something,” the officer told investigators.
When investigators interviewed Lt. Jeffrey Thomas on Aug. 15, he said he had entered the NATO security area to “check in with the night commander,” and that he stopped at the 126 N. Main St. location to grab a snack, the report states.
Credit: Bryant Billing
Credit: Bryant Billing
Lt. Jeffrey Thomas claimed his intent was to borrow the signs so that he could replicate them, with a plan to make commemorative signs memorializing the historic NATO event, according to the investigative summary.
Lt. Jeffrey Thomas said he planned to return the signs later that same day after he captured “scale photographs and measurements of the fonts to make replicas” at his home, the report states. He said he wanted to make signs that had the same font and style, but with different words.
A property manager for Dayton Live who spoke with a police sergeant was upset and disappointed about the incident and confirmed he did not authorize anyone to remove the signs, the investigative summary states.
The missing placards were dropped off with police leadership a couple of days after they were taken. Police said the signs were returned to the property manager, who said Dayton Live did not want to pursue criminal charges.
Footage recorded on Lt. Jeffrey Thomas’ cruiser dash camera that day, which was reviewed as part of the internal investigation, shows he left the restaurant with the signs around 4:45 a.m., traveled to his residence, and put the property in his garage, the report outlines.
Dash camera footage also reportedly showed that while Lt. Jeffrey Thomas was driving around downtown prior to going to the restaurant, he went through red lights or made partial, incomplete stops at red lights on several occasions, the report notes.
The report describes Lt. Jeffrey Thomas making incomplete stops and/or running a series of six red lights in just over a minute. It does not specify how fast he was driving.
Lt. Jeffrey Thomas also reportedly stopped his cruiser along the west side of South Jefferson Street, exited the vehicle, and removed a blue NATO yard sign from one of the sidewalk’s mulch beds.
The investigation and review of dash cam footage also revealed Lt. Jeffrey Thomas had regularly been driving his cruiser to and from his home despite not having approval to do so, according to the documents.
Lt. Jeffrey Thomas also was fired by Sinclair in January after serving for nearly five years as an instructor/commander with the Sinclair Community College Criminal Justice Training Academy.
DPD investigated the firing, ultimately finding Lt. Jeffrey Thomas had violated department guidelines and rules of conduct by exhibiting “unprofessional and/or disrespectful behavior” toward a training academy cadet, documents show. Lt. Jeffrey Thomas was issued a 24-hour suspension for the infraction.
Engel, Lt. Jeffrey Thomas’ attorney, said career prosecutors who reviewed the incident at Uno’s recognized that Lt. Jeffrey Thomas did not commit a crime.
“The people who deal with theft all the time, did the right thing here,” said Engel, with Engel & Martin LLC who years ago used to work in the prosecutor’s office in Warren County. “They know the difference between a theft and a misunderstanding.”
Engel said Lt. Jeffrey Thomas is a dedicated, career public servant who is looking forward to serving a new community.
Dayton police Sgt. Kyle Thomas, president of the Dayton Fraternal Order of Police (the police union), said city management and police leadership often get emotional about the allegations against police officers that lead to internal administrative investigations.
But Sgt. Kyle Thomas said what really matters are not the allegations but the actual facts and findings from the investigations, which he said often do not match or confirm the allegations.
Sgt. Kyle Thomas said city management was upset that Lt. Jeffrey Thomas’ actions created an administrative incident during a high-profile international event.
“With Lt. Thomas, there was definitely a strong, emotional attachment not to what the facts and findings would have shown, but the fact that we had to have this internal investigation during an international conference,” the union president said.
Sgt. Kyle Thomas said he vouched for the police lieutenant when he was contacted by New Lebanon because Lt. Jeffrey Thomas had a great track record and was good at his job.
“Take his name off and look at his file, and the city would have to admit that he has been a good employee for the city of Dayton for 23.5 years,” the sergeant said.
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