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Photos by Sera Frederick / Manuel Perez is the second Oak Hill sergeant to be placed on administrative leave under embattled Police Chief Diane Young. Perez claims Young has threatened to cut off his pay. Please click the attachment to read his allegations.
OAK HILL -- Suspended Sgt. Manuel Perez put the city on notice in writing Tuesday that he is suing Police Chief Diane Young and the municipality, claiming sexual harassment, racial discrimination and other job-related issues.
Perez, placed on paid administrative leave since March 30 on criminal allegations of stealing fuel from the city pump, said he is filing a grievance against the chief and wants a hearing before the city's personnel board in response to a termination notice he received from Young as well as threats made by her to withhold his pay.
"Today in a meeting with Chief Young I was advised of an additional allegation and Internal Affairs Investigation concerning the DAVID System that she intends to bring against me," Perez wrote in his memo to the city. "Chief Young stated that she wanted to start that particular Internal Affairs interview immediately after she served me notice."
Perez was suspended just two days after the City Commission voted to outright fire demoted Sgt. Michael Ihnken, who had been the subject of two consecutive State Attorney Investigations alleging criminal acts of theft and untruthfulness, as well as not keeping up with firearms training certification.
In his memo sent via e-mail to City Clerk/Administrator Laura Goodearly, Perez said he told Young he wasn't given sufficient notice and that when he made it clear to her that he need additional time to prepare for such an interview, she threatened to cut off his salary.
"Chief Young stated, 'That I was to be available because she is paying me to be available and that if I was not going to be available she was going to withhold my pay,' " Perez wrote. "In accordance with the Police Officer’s Bill of Rights, I am entitled to advanced notice prior to being interviewed regarding an investigation initiated against me."
"Chief Young stated, 'That I was to be available because she is paying me to be available and that if I was not going to be available she was going to withhold my pay,' " Perez wrote. "In accordance with the Police Officer’s Bill of Rights, I am entitled to advanced notice prior to being interviewed regarding an investigation initiated against me."
Young did not return calls and e-mail messages for comment and has not responded to inquiries from NSBNews.net since the first week of February when she said she barred Perez from speaking to the media. She did not give a reason.
According to several sources, Young was alerted in November by a city employee alleging that Perez was stealing gas, but did nothing.
On Jan. 5, two cops -- officer M.J. Eberhart and Sgt. Brian Riley -- highlighted and initialed gas log entries submitted by Perez for car 17, with fill-ups that had twice as many gallons as the tank could hold.
Perez denied the gas theft allegations in an exclusive interview with NSBNews.net several in the early evening after e-mailing his notice to the city.
No action was taken by Young until March 30, after two memos to the City Commission from Eberhart questioning why Young had done nothing about the allegations.
That month, NSBNews.net tried to videotape a copy of Eberhart's second memo -- a public record -- which City Commissioner Ron Engele was holding in his hands before he quickly tried to conceal by flipping over, after each commissioner was handed a copy of the letter by City Clerk/Administrator Laura Goodearly with none of the commissioners commenting on it. Nothing was mentioned about it on the agenda either.
After the meeting, then-Mayor Darla Lauer promptly provided NSBNews.net a copy of the letter, which she said was clearly a public record and that Engele had no right to prevent the online newspaper from seeing what he or any of the commissioners were reading.
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Photo by Sera Frederick / Oak Hill City Commissioner gestures with his thumb while threatening to have NSBNews.net removed from the April 25 meeting, which he subsequently did illegally a couple minutes later with assistance from Police Chief Diane Young.
On April 25, NSBNews.net posted a story that Perez had been suspended. That night in the City Commission meeting, Engele jumped out of his seat and pointed his finger directly at the NSBNews.net videographer in a menacing way and threatened to have NSBNews.net removed.
Later in the meeting, Engele jumped out of his seat again and illegally demanded the removal of former City Clerk/Administrator Virginia Haas who was talking aloud. Police Chief Young promptly grabbed her by the arm and escorted her from the building.
A short time later, the NSBNews.net editor was ordered ejected by Engele, who again jumped out of his seat, pointed his finger and demanded the chief remove him. The police chief placed her hands on the editor and escorted him from the building, preventing him from covering the news. She threatened him with arrest if he attempted to walk back in.
A short time later, the NSBNews.net editor was ordered ejected by Engele, who again jumped out of his seat, pointed his finger and demanded the chief remove him. The police chief placed her hands on the editor and escorted him from the building, preventing him from covering the news. She threatened him with arrest if he attempted to walk back in.
Engele's actions were blatantly illegal, but none of the elected officials, nor City Attorney Scott Simpson, whose only contact with them was via phone, took any action to stop Engele of the police chief nor did they utter a single word about the series of threats and aggressive actions by Engele that earlier forced the NSBNews.net videographer to step back up as he stepped towards her while screaming and pointing his finger.
Engele was upset with the videographer who was simply trying to videotape City Clerk/Administrator Laura Goodearly, who was trying to hide her face behind a computer screen monitor that wasn't even on.
At the previous meeting, Goodearly tried to cover her face with a piece of paper after NSBNews.net posted a story that she had a DUI conviction and was seeking a 10 percent raise. At the April 25 meeting her raise request was denied, though she was told it would be granted in six months if she shows improvement in her job performance.
Oak Hill has been beset by adverse media coverage for nearly two years over allegations of corruption, especially in the past 17 months that Young has been in charge of the department.
Young was promoted to police chief a year ago on a 3-2 vote despite her admission on her application eight years earlier that she snorted cocaine at least 100 times and smoked marijuana.
Young was promoted to police chief a year ago on a 3-2 vote despite her admission on her application eight years earlier that she snorted cocaine at least 100 times and smoked marijuana.
Twice this year, Young's resignation was demanded by then-Mayor Darla Lauer who abruptly resigned last month, telling NSBNews.net that she was fed up with the alleged corruption in the police department and the commission's refusal to hold Young accountable.
NSBNews.net, also known as VolusiaNews.net, provides Volusia County 24 / 7 Internet newspaper coverage, 100% free with breaking news, news of record and investigative reports from New Smyrna Beach, FL, for a 21st-century digital world.