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    • Martin County Sheriff’s officials are not properly reporting the harassment
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    Martin County Sheriff’s officials are not properly reporting the harassment

    Online Niel Posted on

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    MARTIN COUNTY − A Martin County sheriff’s lieutenant has been demoted and a sergeant suspended after an investigation found they improperly handled a report of workplace harassment, according to newly released records.

    Lt. Todd Schimelfanick was demoted to sergeant with an annual pay cut of about $26,000, while Sgt. Stephen Walter was suspended for two days following an investigation involving Daniel Klimek, a civil service adviser who resigned in June after another civil service adviser reported an unpleasant encounter with Klimek in which he touched o improperly, according to records and officials.

    In the reports, both supervisors reported being unfamiliar with the agency’s workplace harassment policy. The policy states that supervisors have a responsibility to prevent harassment, and if an investigation reveals that the supervisor knew about the harassment, the supervisor will be charged with dereliction of duty.

    Investigators found that Klimek engaged in inappropriate actions and made inappropriate comments to sheriff’s office employees and citizens while working for the agency, according to reports. In an incident in February, another civil service counselor reported that Klimek approached her while she was off duty. She was in her car when he came and was “holding on” to the area where her body worn camera is worn on her chest.

    The civil service assistant told Cpl. Rebecca Brady that she was inappropriately touched by Klimek and Schimelfanick and Walter were notified of the situation. Brady said the civil service assistant came to her because she didn’t think the situation was being handled properly and nothing was being done about it.

    Brady went to Schimelfanick to express his displeasure with how the complaint was handled. Schimelfanick said the civil service assistant should be the one to come forward, to which Brady replied, “Well, actually with sexual harassment, it can go to whoever they’re comfortable with,” the records show. Schimelfanick indicated it was not sexual harassment, and Brady replied, “Well, you have to re-read the definition,” according to the records.

    Brady approached captain Jason Ward about the situation and how it had not been adequately handled. Ward relayed information about the incident to Lt. John Bowdoin, who contacted his immediate supervisor, Capt. Ruben Romero, who promptly contacted Schimelfanick to ask about his knowledge of the complaint. Schimelfanick confirmed that Walter was made aware of the complaint and that it was documented.

    Romero then called Walter directly to discuss the complaint. Walter stated that he documented the incident in an email to himself. According to reports, Walter said he never received formal training on how to properly document incidents and documenting it in an email to himself is a method he learned during his 38-year career in law enforcement.

    Walter reported that he was not “one hundred percent familiar” with the sheriff’s office harassment in the workplace policy at the time of the incident. In reports, he said the incident was “borderline” and wasn’t sure if it was “really harassment” because it was “too old school,” but he understood “in today’s world” the definition “has changed a little bit.” .”

    The nurse later reiterated to Romero her discomfort around Klimek and her displeasure with Walter’s lack of action on her initial report.

    In August, Walter was called in to discuss the situation. In the interview, he explained how he didn’t feel the incident rose to the level of sexual harassment or “even real harassment” at the time.

    Walter stated that Schimelfanick was on vacation while he processed the complaint and informed him of the matter upon his return. He said Schimelfanick gave him no further orders regarding the incident.

    A few days later, Schimelfanick was called in to discuss the situation. Schimelfanick said he had previously filled out reports about Klimek’s behavior. When asked why he didn’t do the same with this incident, he stated that he was relying on Walter to handle the situation.

    In the interview, he stated that he was comfortable with how Walter documented the incident at the time. He stated “at the time, honestly, it never occurred to me to do it. I don’t have an answer for why I didn’t. I just didn’t think it had come to that. “

    In the interview, he stated that he understood that the civil service advisor did not want to file a complaint, but rather wanted it documented and that Klimek be spoken to about the incident. He stated, “So in my mind, that’s exactly what he did,” according to reports.

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    Olivia Franklin is a breaking news reporter for TCPalm. Follow Olivia on X @Livvvvv_5 or contact her by phone at 317-627-8048. Email him at [email protected].

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