Complaints about lieutenant investigated

At the request of the acting chief, the lieutenant was placed on leave Monday.

WARREN — Lt. Joseph Marhulik, who was on the verge of becoming the next Warren Police Department captain to fill the vacancy created by Tim Bowers’ elevation to chief, has been placed on paid administrative leave after allegations that he acted inappropriately Aug. 16.

The police department is conducting an internal investigation, though Tim Bowers, acting chief, declined to say who is carrying out the investigation. Two recent investigations involving another police officer were conducted by Sgt. Jeff Cole, the department’s internal-affairs officer.

Two citizens filed complaints with the department regarding a man’s behavior about 11:30 p.m. Aug. 16 on Highland Avenue Southwest.

One of the complaints came from a Fourth Street Southwest man who said he was riding a bicycle near Highland Avenue and Third Street when Marhulik pulled alongside him in a blue Impala, called him a derogatory name for a black person, then made other derogatory remarks.

The man said Marhulik appeared to be intoxicated and had another male in the car with him.

The man on the bicycle went to the Warren police station the next morning and filed a complaint. He said the vehicle Marhulik was driving was at the police department that morning and had the same license-plate number.

The second complaint came from a Highland Avenue Southwest man who said he was also riding a bicycle about that same time on Highland Avenue and was approached by a man in a blue Impala who used the same derogatory term for a black person and asked him if he was selling crack or had a gun.

The car drove away, and the man said he was informed later that the man inside was a police officer.

Bowers, who is expected to learn today that he is in line to be Warren’s next police chief by scoring the highest on a civil-service exam, said he asked Doug Franklin, safety-service director, to place Marhulik on paid administrative leave, and Franklin did.

Marhulik’s paid leave was effective Monday, Bowers said. Marhulik will remain on that status indefinitely, he added.

Marhulik’s day-to-day responsibilities include managing the department’s concentration on the city’s public-housing units and assisting Bowers with other support-division management.

Marhulik was eligible to take the test to become police chief but decided against it in July, saying he planned to retire sometime in 2010, so it didn’t make sense to become chief.

Bowers said recently that if the Warren Civil Service Commission certifies the results of the chief test and he is named chief, Marhulik would be in line to take Bowers’ position as chief over the department’s support division, which includes dispatching, clerical help and grant writing.

Marhulik will not be promoted to captain while he is on administrative leave, Bowers noted.

runyan@vindy.com