Ex-GHDPS officer gets probation, jail, in community service in misconduct case
Tue, Nov 3, 2009 
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BY BRIAN KEILEN
bkeilen@grandhaventribune.com
A former Grand Haven police officer was sentenced to a combination of probation, jail time, community service and fines Monday morning for using his position for sex acts.
Thomas Carey, the former Grand Haven Department of Public Safety K-9 officer, was sentenced in 20th Circuit Court to serve 60 days in jail, with one day credited for time served, 24 months probation and 150 hours of community service. He was also fined $645.
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Carey agreed to surrender his certificate as a police officer as part of his plea deal. He will not appear on the state sex offender registry.
Carey, 46, a 20-year veteran of GHDPS, 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. He resigned from GHDPS in mid-August after the allegations against him were first brought to light.
Speaking briefly before receiving his sentence, Carey apologized for his conduct.
"I apologize to the victims, my family, my profession and my community," he said. "I will continue to work on issues in my life that have caused me to make some wrong choices in my life."
During the sentencing Monday, Circuit Judge Calvin Bosman told Carey that he had a fine record as a police officer and was a positive influence in the community, but the charges against him arose because he was an officer.
"The offense that you committed is because you were in uniform. You were a police officer," Bosman said. "I think, in general, the public has a very high regard for police officers and they hold them out to a high standard of conduct.
"Because of that, this makes these actions criminal."
Charges against Carey followed an investigation by the Michigan State Police that was conducted in late May and early June. GHDPS Director Dennis Edwards had requested the investigation after a member of the community brought the allegations against Carey, Edwards said.
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 sex acts from two women over a period of several years. A Circuit Court transcript for Carey's plea proceeding before Bosman states 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."
