WARREN Probe: Cops strip-search against the law

The chief declined to discipline two officers who took part in a body cavity search of a man arrested on a traffic charge.
By PEGGY SINKOVICH
and STEPHEN SIFF
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- At least one city police officer routinely conducted body cavity searches on suspects in even minor crimes, in violation of state law and department policy, an internal police investigation has discovered.
Even people arrested on traffic violations or driving without a valid license were subjected to strip searches, the investigation found.
Despite these findings, Police Chief John Mandopoulos has declined to discipline two officers who took part in a body-cavity search of a Dominic D. Gambone, 25, who lived on South Project S.E., when he was arrested in February 2002 on charges of driving under suspension and driving slow.
The one officer involved, Tim Parana, told Lt. Joseph Marhulik, internal affairs investigator, that he performs a strip-search on every man he arrests, according to a written report.
"I do not do females or juveniles," Parana told Marhulik, the report says.
Only in some cases
Trumbull County prosecutors say that strip-searches should be done only in certain cases and that a list of procedures -- including, in many cases, getting a search warrant -- must be followed.
"Shame on the Warren Police Department for not ever realizing it is illegal to do this," said Atty. Kenneth D. Myers, adjunct professor at the Cleveland Marshall School of Law. "What makes this very serious is that the police officers can face a criminal offense as well as a civil lawsuit."
Courts have determined that conducting an illegal strip-search is a first degree misdemeanor, punishable by up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.
Officers receive training on strip-searching suspects when they attend the basic police academy, said Marhulik.
New policy
Marhulik noted that since a complaint was filed by Gambone in March, a new departmental policy, with strict guidelines on strip-searches, has been created. The new guidelines, written by city police and law department officials, requires doctors to be present during the most invasive searches. Previously, department policy was for officers to follow the state law.
In the detailed complaint, Gambone describes the body search by Parana and Patrol Officer Robert Trimble in a holding cell at the police station, after he was taken downtown.
Parana could not be reached to comment, and Trimble declined to comment.
"The officers left and came back with rubber gloves and flashlights," Gambone wrote in the complaint.
Parana wrote in his report that he was not wearing gloves. He said officers checked Gambone's "scrotum area and his buttocks, a common place where narcotics/contraband are hidden."
"I, Ptl. Parana, perform this check on every male prisoner I arrest that may be transported to the Trumbull County jail," Parana wrote in his report. "On several occasions I have recovered either drugs/contraband/ or even weapons on male arrestees by performing this search that may have been missed by a pat down or search at the scene."
Charges dismissed
Gambone was released with a citation after the strip-search found nothing, and charges against him were dismissed when he showed up at municipal court with a valid driver's license.
Gambone could not be reached to discuss his experience, but others say the process of being searched is demeaning and humiliating.
"It was awful; it was embarrassing," said LaShawn Ziegler, who was strip-searched after Warren police officers arrested him on a charge of driving without a license in June 2002. "You feel totally disrespected."
Ziegler, owner of 77 Soul night club, said he and his friend were strip-searched in the same holding cell. Parana and Trimble were not the officers who searched Ziegler and his friend.
"After they searched us, they told us to get dressed and leave. We both got cited for driving under suspension, and we went to court with a valid driver's license and insurance and the case was dismissed."
Deputy sheriffs
The Trumbull County Sheriff's Department does not perform strip-searches, in part because of legal issues involved.
"When a strip-search is done, on very rare occasions, it is done with medical personnel," Sheriff Thomas Altiere said. "When people come into the jail, they are just asked to change clothes."
Despite the acknowledgment by Parana that he routinely strip-searched men he arrests, and the internal affairs investigator's conclusion that this was against policy and against the law, Mandopoulos declined to take action against the two officers.
"Exonerated," Mandopoulos wrote on the cover sheet of the investigation report, completed last week.
"My recommendation is 180 degrees different from that of the police chief," said Fred Harris, the city's safety services director. "I can't go into the details of my recommendation right now, because I still need to discuss it with the mayor."
Mayor Hank Angelo declined to comment, saying he was still reviewing the complaint.
sinkovich@vindy.com
siff@vindy.com