Dec 29, 2015 5 min read

A former part-time Hanover Township police officer who attempted to get back his job lost a round in Washington County Court.

Kent Mitchell, a resident of the Washington area, filed suit in August 2014 against the township, claiming the provisions of the Police Tenure Act should apply to part-timers because it failed to specifically exclude them. His attorney, Joseph C. Francis, argued Mitchell, in his position as a part-time police officer, had constitutional protection. Mitchell claimed township officials never gave him a full hearing.

Dennis Makel, Hanover solicitor, stated in court documents the Police Tenure Act refers to regular, full-time police officers in first- and second-class townships and boroughs.

“Based on the plain language of this act, only police officers who are appointed to serve on a full-time basis are entitled to statutory job protection,” Makel wrote in a memorandum to the court.

In a two-sentence order filed earlier this month, Senior Judge John C. Reed, specially presiding, said he had taken into consideration the legal arguments and township’s preliminary objections and decreed the township’s objections are sustained and Mitchell’s claims must be dismissed.

Francis could not immediately be reached for comment on whether his client intends to appeal Reed’s decision in the wrongful termination case.

The events leading up to the most recent court decision go back several years, and in a court filing, Francis referred to them as “a drawn-out, factually disputed and convoluted investigation initiated by the Hanover Township Board of Supervisors.”

James L. Geho was named Hanover Township’s first full-time police chief in 2005, and Mitchell was hired in 2007.

In April 2012, the Hanover Township Board of Supervisors decided to suspend Geho and Mitchell, a patrolman, from their jobs.

Supervisors at the time would not comment on why Geho and Mitchell were suspended, but two months before they took action, the township leaders voted to conduct an internal investigation of the police department. Supervisors voted to appoint Makel as special counsel following the outcome of a lawsuit filed by James Donohue II, his son, and his nephew.

The three men were arrested in 2008, charged with using a pipe bomb to blow up a neighbor’s mailbox and intimidation of a witness. Then-judge Paul Pozonsky threw the case out of Washington County Court for lack of evidence. Mitchell maintained he acted during the investigation with strict adherence to his superiors and relied on their directions. In addition to Geho, the case was handled by United States postal inspectors, the Washington County district attorney’s office during the term of DA Steve Toprani, state police and other law enforcement officials that Mitchell cannot identify.

The former defendants filed a civil lawsuit in federal court against the township, Geho and Mitchell. It was settled without a trial, with the three men receiving $550,000.

Donohue, who became a township supervisor in 2011, abstained from voting on the suspension of Geho and Mitchell. Neither did Donohue vote on the chief’s and part-timer’s eventual termination.

Hanover Township is home to First Niagara Pavilion, a concert venue that attracts large crowds. Some of those attending events have been arrested on a variety of charges, including public drunkenness, fights, underage drinking and drugs. Some of the arrests resulted in lawsuits against the township.

“As a result of overzealous and improper police action initiated and supervised by Geho, the township and its insurer paid out nearly $650,000 to settle claims brought by individuals for illegal detainment and arrests, among other things. This led to an increase in insurance premiums, which caused the township to disband its police force entirely until coverage could be found,” stated the township’s findings compiled by attorney David J. Montgomery, who was hired to look into the matter.

According to documents filed with Geho’s petition for reinstatement filed with the court in 2013, the township also alleged that in the spring of 2008, a large number of people were apprehended for underage drinking, and that on his own initiative, Geho, without authorization from the township or county, placed the juveniles in an unauthorized “juvenile program.”

At the chief’s direction, the juveniles were driving township vehicles, including large dump trucks, without supervision, without insurance and without proper licensing, the township said.

Geho claimed the township did not follow proper procedures in his dismissal, that his state and federal constitutional rights were violated, and that the termination decision was not based on facts of record.

Geho and Mitchell were the only members of a labor organization known as the Hanover Police Association. Geho took before the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board a matter related to his holding a private detective’s license simultaneously while he was police chief, circumstances that the township does not allow.

Labor board Hearing Examiner Thomas P. Leonard, in June 2012, rescinded the association’s complaint and dismissed the unfair labor practice charge against the township, saying that the association lacked evidence for its claim. Geho amended his claim, and in August 2013, Leonard ordered that the township had to “cease and desist from interfering with, restraining or coercing employees” as they exercised their rights under the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Act.

Leonard based his decision on Geho’s belief that he was being disciplined for, among other reasons, filing unfair labor practice charges.

“Although the township solicitor later informed his counsel that filing of unfair labor practice charges would not be used as a reason to discipline him, the letter’s content hung over Geho’s head until that time,” Leonard concluded.

Geho filed two petitions with Washington County Court in 2013, asking that the court reinstate him. Geho is seeking a jury trial and monetary damages. The last action in the files reflect President Judge Katherine B. Emery assigning the cases to Reed.