The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office has meted out punishment to two ranking officers and at least one deputy for leaving two teens locked in a courthouse cell without lights, food or toilet paper for a weekend.
Sheriff Phil Miller told Channel 2 Action News all personnel involved have been either suspended, demoted or transferred to other divisions. The suspensions range between one week and one month, depending on the employee’s involvement, he told the station.
In addition to those changes, he said the entire department’s management staff at the courthouse has been replaced.
New policies and procedures are in place at the courthouse to ensure this never happens again, he said. There will also be added technology to the routine that will encourage deputies to check the holding areas multiple times a day.
The department’s internal affairs on Friday concluded the investigation into how a 16-year-old and 17-year-old were left at the courthouse from June 20-23. Miller acknowledged the deputies had blundered and promised “to deal with that accordingly” after the incident became public.
“It is real clear — it is a violation of policy,” Chief Deputy Stan Copeland said of the incident. “The policy is at the end of the day, all the cells will be personally cleared by staff and that didn’t happen.”
The punished deputies are now appealing to the sheriff, which should be finished this month, and then have the option of appealing any firing, suspension or demotion to the county’s merit system protection board, which could take months, Copeland said.
The teens were locked in a cell with no food or lights, furnished only with benches and a window on the door facing into the building’s basement. They did have access to a bathroom and water via a sink in the cell, but no toilet paper.
The teens had been in court, one after being picked up for a probation violation and the other had been transferred from a state youth detention center for court regarding an auto theft case.
—Staff writer Michelle Shaw contributed to this report.
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