Former GHDPS officer gets probation, jail, community service in misconduct case

Mon, Nov 2, 2009    to del.icio.us

A former Grand Haven police officer was sentenced to a combination of probation, jailtime, community service and fines this morning for using his position for oral sex.

Thomas Carey, the former K-9 officer for the Grand Haven Department of Public Safety, was sentenced to serve 60 days in jail, with one day credited for time served, 24 months probation, 150 hours of community service, and was ordered to pay $645 in fines in 20th Circuit Court.

Carey, 46, a 20-year veteran of the Department of Public Safety, pleaded no contest to one count of gross indecency between male and female, and one count of misconduct in office — both five-year felonies — in Ottawa County's 58th District Court on Sept. 3.

The charges followed an investigation by the Michigan State Police that was conducted in late May and early June. According to Grand Haven Public Safety Director Dennis Edwards, he requested the investigation after a member of the community brought the allegations against Carey.

The case was then transferred to the Kent County Prosecutor's office to avoid a potential conflict of interest.

Court documents later revealed that Carey had used his position as an officer to receive oral sex from two women over a period of several years. According to the 20th Circuit Court transcript for Tom Carey's plea proceeding before Judge Calvin Bosman, the acts occurred while Carey was investigating certain complaints by the two women, and were performed "under the pretense of furthering those investigations, and showing care and concern, and while dressed as a police officer and holding himself to be a police officer."

Carey resigned from the Department of Public Safety in mid-August after the allegations against him were first brought to light.