Fired jail worker gets his job back

By RON SELAK JR. Tribune Chronicle
WARREN — A Trumbull County Sheriff’s Office worker fired in July when accusations surfaced that he used his position to get an inmate’s phone number and then contacted her multiple times has been returned to his job.

Corrections officer Anthony Delmont Jr.’s termination was reduced to a 30-day suspension, and the sheriff’s office is being ordered to pay the six-year worker backpay and benefits, according to an arbitrator’s ruling.

Sheriff Thomas Altiere declined comment Monday, saying he hadn’t received a copy of the ruling.

Delmont’s attorney with the Ohio Patrolman’s Benevolent Association, S. Randall Weltman, said Delmont is ready to get back to work.

‘‘We are very pleased,’’ Weltman said. ‘‘It was certainly the correct decision. It’s just a shame Tony had to wait so long with so little pay to get it.’’

It’s unknown how much Delmont is due in pay or when he will return to the jail.

The decision states the investigation into Delmont’s actions didn’t provide enough evidence to show he was guilty of insubordination and conflict of interest charges, but it’s likely he violated another policy covering employee interaction with the public.

According to the ruling, the sheriff’s office believed Delmont used his position as a corrections officer to access the woman’s computer file to get her cell phone number in the hopes of advancing a relationship when she was released.

The office also claimed Delmont learned information from the file about the woman’s tattoos, which they claim he referenced in a cell phone text message, the ruling states.

Delmont contended he overheard the woman give her number to other inmates and at some later point. While reviewing inmate intake and discharge information after his days off — something he says he did regularly — he came across the woman’s file and ‘‘verified’’ the number was correct in his memory.

Sheriff’s Office witnesses testified Delmont ‘‘had an excellent memory,’’ and he was able to recall the number during an interview with the investigator, the ruling states.

The union argued Delmont didn’t contact the woman while on duty, but rather on breaks in a nonsecure area of the jail, and not until after she was released.

The belief that Delmont learned about the woman’s tattoos from her file is based on a reference to the word ‘‘designs’’ in one of the text messages. However, the arbitrator wrote it was more believable the word was used as innuendo, the ruling states, and not about tattoos.

The decision shows the two exchanged about 60 messages.

In October 2004, Delmont was suspended for 10 days for communicating with another female inmate over the intercom, cell phone and letters after being warned to have no contact with the woman, according to his personnel file.



rselak@tribune-chronicle.com