Ohio Highway Patrol KEEPING SOME PUBLIC INFORMATION SECRET?? posted Thursday, June 12, 2003  -  updated Saturday June 14, 2003

Highway Patrol trooper sprays housewife with Mace, at the lady's home in Muskingum County, according to a neighbor of the victim.  Patrol withholding information, charges against lady victim refused by Muskingum County Court, according to an editorial in The Columbus Dispatch, Page A14, Wednesday June 11, 2003. 

 

 Here in Scioto County, in April 2003, the Highway Patrol ignored two felony crimes of ticket-fixing committed by Post Commander Robert Woodford.   We expect Sheriff Marty Donini to prosecute Woodford, who has now been separated dishonorably from the patrol.

 

In 1997, Lt. Woodford was suspended for concealing, behind the patrol post, for three weeks, an auto that was illegally being operated without the owner's permission.   Lt. Woodford admitted that his girl-friend had been driving the car.  Lt. Woodford, at last report, is now married to this girl-friend.  At the time of this incident Lt. Woodford was married to another woman.  Sheriff Donini refused to take action in this criminal case.

 

Citizen Files Paperwork Against Former Ohio Highway Post 73

Commander R.J. Woodford Seeking Criminal Charges

By Doug Deepe, Investigative Reporter

 

Monday, May 19, 2003  (9:15 p.m.)

 

At approximately 10:15 am on Monday, May 19, 2003 a citizen of Scioto County filed a letter with Scioto County Sheriff Captain John Murphy and the Scioto County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.

 

The letter requested that criminal charges be filed against former Ohio Highway Patrol Commander Lt. Robert J. Woodford for his criminal activity in "fixing" tickets for a Michael Newton.

The letter was accompanied by the Ohio Highway Patrol Investigative Report filed by Lt. R. L. Munk dated April 2, 2003, which cited Lt. Woodford for a "chargeable" offense.

 

The Sentinel broke this story yesterday and numerous calls have been received advising the Sentinel that Woodford had more friends taken care of than Newton.

 

 One telephone call was received from an individual that claimed to have worked with Woodford at Post 73; he stated that Woodford had a list of friends that Troopers were not supposed to ticket. This individual went on to state that verbal warnings were issued to individuals on "Woody’s List".

 

The Sentinel is investigating other information provided by anonymous sources that, if confirmed, would take this case in a whole other direction.  

 

Stay tuned. There’s more to come. (Monday, May 19, 2003, 9:15 p.m.)

 

Ohio Highway Patrol Lieutenant Robert J. Woodford

Commander of Highway Patrol Post 73 in Scioto County

Committed Felony Crimes

Will Scioto County Sheriff investigate or Scioto County Prosecuting Attorney's Office prosecute these felony crimes committed by Lieutenant R. J. Woodford

By Doug Deepe, Investigative Reporter

 

Sunday, May 18, 2003

The Sentinel has received an Administrative Investigative Report from the Ohio Highway Patrol that reveals Lt. R. J. Woodford, former Portsmouth OHP Commander, committed felony crimes and decided to take a "voluntary retirement" rather than facing criminal charges in Scioto County Courts.

 

Lt. R. L. Munk, the OHP Commander for Administrative Investigations sent an OHP inter office memo to his superiors, Captain R.J. Young and Major F. G. Goldstein on April 3, 2003 and reported that Lt. Woodford had been involved in tampering and/or the destruction of tickets written to a Michael Newton. Lt. Munk reports to his superiors that the case is "chargeable".

 

Lt. Munk states in his report that on September 25, 2001 Trooper K. M. Taulbee of the OHP Portsmouth Post stopped Michael Newton, a well known personal friend of Lt. Woodford by his officers, and issued a ticket to Newton for a speed violation. Trooper Taulbee received a call from Lt. Woodford questioning her if she had written a ticket to Newton and was told that she had. Trooper Taulbee was ordered by Lt. Woodford to put the ticket on his desk. The ticket number written to Newton was L107995.

 

Lt. Munk contacted the Portsmouth Municipal Court on March 25, 2003 and discovered that the ticket had not been properly filed with the court for prosecution.

On March 26, 2003, Lt. Munk went to the Portsmouth Patrol Post and reviewed HP-54 C Arrest Book Recap and found that Citation Numbers L107975 through L107999 were issued to Trooper Taulbee, Unit 1286, on September 14, 2001. A review of Trooper Taulbee’s Recap Book shows the citations issued in 2001 were missing. Lt. Munk questioned Sgt. C. R. Smith about the missing recap sheets and was informed that Sgt. Smith had "destroyed all Post units’ arrest recaps from 2001 and prior to that date". The patrol investigators did not determine who had ordered Sgt. Smith to destroy these documents.

 

Lt. Munk then reviewed the HP-54’s for all units currently assigned and all prior assigned Troopers to the Portsmouth Post. This review was to see if Michael Newton’s name shows up. Newton was found to have been issued a ticket by Trooper J. R. Silvey, Unit 984, on December 18, 2002. No other ticket for Newton was found.

 

Lt. Munk then pulled out Trooper Taulbee’s HP-54 Arrest Book to look at her copies of the citations in the book issued to her back in September 2001. Lt. Munk found that Trooper Taulbee’s copy of Newton’s ticket number L107995 was missing from her book. Lt. Munk questioned Trooper Taulbee about the missing ticket and was told that she had not removed it from the book.

 

Lt. Munk and a Sgt. Quinn arrived at the Portsmouth Post on March 27, 2003, and reviewed the HP-53B (Daily Phone and Radio Log) for September 25, 2001. This log revealed that on September 25, 2001, Trooper Taulbee stopped a vehicle on State Route 348 at State Route 104. Trooper Taulbee gave the license plate number to her dispatcher as CTM8298 and determined that the owner was Michael Newton.

Trooper Taulbee issued a speeding ticket to Newton and a warning for not wearing a seat belt.

Trooper Taulbee was interviewed by Lt. Munk and Sgt. Quinn, in Chillicothe, Ohio.

Trooper Taulbee explained the events surrounding the September 25, 2001 traffic citation for Newton.

On March 28, 2003, Lt. Munk interviewed Lt. Woodford at the District Nine Headquarters in Jackson, Ohio. The interview was tape recorded and the Sentinel has a copy of the tape. On the tape Lt. Munk tells Lt. Woodford that he is under investigation for fixing tickets for Michael Newton. Lt. Woodford admits that he took care of a ticket for Newton in December 2002 and that if Trooper Taulbee said he did it on the 2001 ticket he would not call her a liar. Lt. Woodford is heard on the tape telling Lt. Munk that he went to Michael Newton to ask Newton if he took care of a ticket for him in September in 2001. Lt. Woodford says he doesn’t "honestly remember fixing the 2001 ticket" but that he did fix one for Newton in December 2002.

 

The April 2, 2003 Inter Office Communication from Lt. Munk to his superiors, Captain Young, and Major Goldstein has a hand written not that states, "no discipline employee retired 4/18/03".

 

An email has been sent to Lt. Munk for an explanation as to why Lt. Woodford was not charged with tampering with evidence, destruction of evidence, or other felonies involving his actions in this matter. It appears on the face of this documentation that Lt. Woodford was allowed to "retire in lieu of prosecution".

The Sentinel will be forwarding our information surrounding this investigation about Lt. Woodford to the Scioto County Sheriff’s Office and the Scioto County Prosecutor’s Office.

 

The Sentinel is in the process of contacting the Superintendent of the Ohio Highway Patrol and the Inspector General of Ohio to inquire why Lt. Woodford was allowed to retire and not be charged with committing crimes.

The Sentinel will keep you updated as our investigation continues.                  (Posted Sunday May 18, 2003 at 2:27 p.m.)