[A] Rutland City Police corporal who had been placed on paid administrative leave for several months before recently resigning had been the subject of a criminal probe that ended up with no charges being brought against him, according to a city response to a public records request.
That response revealed little about the specific nature of the allegations that led to the investigation that was launched in December 2017 into Cpl. Damon Nguyen.
However, it does indicate the alleged actions occurred while Nguyen was off duty and that he had told a sergeant “some details” of the incident five years earlier in 2012, though no probe was conducted at that time.
Nguyen was a decorated member of the department, awarded the department Medal of Valor in 2013, having survived a knife attack from a woman who had been taken into custody in the holding area of the police station.
A working phone number for Nguyen was not immediately available Thursday to seek comment. Rutland City Police Chief Brian Kilcullen declined to comment Thursday beyond what was included in the documents released by the city.
Kilcullen denied a request from VTDigger for “any and all” internal investigations into Nyugen, who worked for the department from January 2011 through August of this year when he resigned as part of a “settlement agreement” with the city. Kilcullen did provide a summary and a timeline of the investigation.
In denying the documents, the police chief cited exemptions to the Vermont Public Records Act for personal records and those dealing with the investigation and detection of crime for his decision.
Kilcullen wrote that the city’s “IA report” into Nguyen “relied exclusively on the facts gleaned by the thorough criminal investigation completed by the Vermont State Police in this matter. VSP’s investigation report was provided to us confidentially.”
Kilcullen added, “The report deals with the detection and investigation of an alleged crime that occurred off-duty and the production of such report would constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.”
The police chief’s written response also stated that the Vermont Supreme Court “has been clear that the public interest in disclosure of these Requested Records is to allow the public to scrutinize the management’s response to allegations against” an employee.
However, in a footnote, Kilcullen wrote that extending “such scrutiny to an employee’s private life and off-duty behavior contradicts the important privacy concerns of the individual for which both the legislature and the court have given great weight.”
He then added, “To that end, the City has provided a summary of its response on Exhibit A attached hereto.”
That two-page exhibit is a timeline and summary of actions taken by the city after becoming aware of an allegation against Nyugen.
According to that document, city police Cmdr. David LaChance “received information” in December 2017 regarding an alleged off-duty incident in 2012 involving Nguyen.
After receiving that information and conferring with the police chief, Nguyen was placed on administrative leave, according to the city’s timeline.
State police were contacted and asked to perform an investigation and the Rutland County State’s Attorney Office was also notified, the summary stated.
In early February, according to the document, the state police had completed the criminal investigation and it was sent to the Vermont Attorney General’s Office for review.
In May, the Attorney General’s Office notified the Rutland City Police Department it had completed its review, and “concluded that a prosecution would not be an appropriate response to the facts revealed by the investigation.”
Kilcullen and LaChance met with Rutland County State’s Attorney Rose Kennedy to discuss the decision by the Attorney General’s Office, according to the city’s timeline.
The Rutland County State’s Attorney’s Office then sent the completed state police investigation to the Bennington County State’s Attorney’s Office for review.
On June 14, the Rutland prosecutors said they had received the results of the review by the Bennington prosecutors. The Rutland County State’s Attorney office told the city at that time they would not be pursuing criminal charges.
Kennedy, reached Thursday evening, declined comment, other than to say that she “conflicted off” the case and sent it to the state Attorney General’s Office and the Bennington County State’s Attorney’s Office for review.
The state police investigation, according to the city’s summary, including a more-than-30-page written report as well as audio recorded interviews with Nguyen and six other people.
Through the state police investigation, Kilcullen and LaChance became aware that shortly after the off-duty incident, Nguyen had reported at least some of the details of his conduct to one of his union representatives and the two brought the information to a sergeant.
“Based upon Cpl. Nguyen’s account of the incident,” the city’s summary released Thursday stated, “the sergeant did not feel there was any misconduct and did not report the matter to anyone else.”
Kilcullen on Thursday declined to name that sergeant, who, he said, no longer works for the department.
On July 28, according to the city’s summary, Nguyen “indicated an interest in negotiating a settlement agreement” with the city, which was finalized Aug. 27 and included Nguyen’s resignation, the summary stated.
In addition, the city agreed to pay him for accrued sick and vacation time, which totaled $16,574.
Also, according to that agreement, the city and Nguyen would to not “disparage” each other, and he would not file any grievances against the city.
As part of the agreement, none of the parties are admitting to any wrongdoing.
“The Parties agree that neither this Agreement nor the furnishing of the consideration for this Agreement shall be deemed or construed at any time for any purpose as an admission by either party of any liability, responsibility, or unlawful conduct of any kind,” the document states.
The seven-page settlement agreement provided by Bloomer stated that the city accepted Nguyen’s resignation “in lieu of further disciplinary investigation and/or discipline.”
