ONGOING INTERNAL AFFAIRS INVESTIGATION IN BAY CITY IS PROBING HARASSMENT AND STALKING CHARGES
The Monroe County Sheriff's Office has offered a high-level job at the jail to the deputy chief of police for the Bay City, Michigan, Police Department. What makes this a news story is that Deputy Chief Penny Phelps, 41, is the primary subject of an internal investigation in Bay City, sparked in part by allegations by a subordinate female officer after the two ended a three-year love affair.
The subordinate officer, Elizabeth Kangas, 35, has accused Phelps of harassment and stalking. The Michigan Attorney General's office has yet to file any criminal charges, however.
But Kangas has filed a civil lawsuit against Phelps, other police officials and the city.
A source close to the investigation in Bay City told KWTN Tueday that Phelps, who is still working for the Bay City police, denied knowing about any job offer from the Monroe County Sheriff's Office.
Meanwhile, the Monroe County Sheriff's Department is awaiting Phelps' decision as to whether she wants to be captain of the Operations Division of the county jail on Stock Island.
"She has a few issues," said sheriff's spokeswoman Deputy Becky Herrin. "But there's nothing pending of a criminal nature." Herrin said that Phelps has not officially been hired, but an offer has been made and extended.
"We're aware of the accusations. She's been very upfront with us. We don't have any policies against inter-departmental relations and there's nothing that would keep us from hiring her."
And while a police officer having an alleged lesbian affair with a subordinate may only create ripples in the sometimes enlightened, gay-friendly Florida Keys, in Bay City, the affair reads like a sordid dime-store novel that apparently has rocked the small, conservative, Polish Catholic community of 36,000, located on the edge of northern Michigan, 200 miles north of Detroit.
But according to a source in Bay City, " it was not the gay issue, but in a town where the vast majority are working class, blue-collar, employed in the auto industry or manufacturing, it was the issue of supposed abuse or misuse of power by a superior toward a subordinate."
Phelps admitted in an article in the Jan. 20, 2002, edition of The Bay City Times, that she used poor judgment in having what she called "a consensual relationship," but said she's "done nothing illegal or immoral."
In the article, the results of a Michigan state police investigation were released, which traced Phelps' relationship with Kangas to 1998, where it was alleged to have become widely known throughout the department, according to a police lieutenant.
While together, the couple allegedly took trips together to Tennessee, Alaska, the Caribbean, as well as Key West. But eventually Kangas acquired a boyfriend, an undercover detective. Investigators said that it appears the final break up of the alleged affair was precipitated after Kangas learned that Phelps had suddenly transferred her detective-boyfriend away from Kangas.
The fallout associated with that break-up are cited in the lawsuit that allegedly led to both Kangas and Phelps being placed on administrative leave with pay. Both women are reportedly back on the job, but Phelps is on "restricted duty without supervisory authority."
Police Chief Linda Collier says she never knew about the relationship-- and the state police investigation report was apparently critical of her professed lack of knowledge. She and Phelps have blasted the report as a "politically motivated smear campaign."
According to the chief, both Kangas and Phelps allegedly told her that their differences centered solely around payment for a horse trailer. But the since-concluded four-month state police investigation raised issues of conflicts other officers claimed to have experienced following the break-up of the couple's affair, with its impact on job assignments, work schedules and morale.
Herrin said Tuesday that the policy of the Sheriff's Office currently allows such relationships "as long as the relationships do not cause employment-related problems, such as accusations of favoritism, harassment or anything that specifically violates our policies."
Herrin went on to say that the department in the past, like the Key West Police Department, has had husband-and-wife deputies, as well as deputies who have dated each other.
"I don't recall any issues arising out of them and most of the time, the couples worked in different departments anyway," she added.
Meanwhile, a Bay City source confirmed Tuesday that their city commission met in a "secret" session on Phelps, giving the reason that there would be a discussion about liability issues in the wake of the lawsuit against the city by Kangas.