A former Lamoille County Sheriff’s Department deputy is facing disciplinary proceedings over allegations that he created “trading cards” of people who had been arrested, using booking photos and other law enforcement images while employed by the agency.
The Vermont Criminal Justice Council earlier this month posted a notice on its website setting a hearing for James Griffin to consider allegations of misconduct while on duty.
According to the hearing notice, the council can consider sanctions against Griffin “up to and including permanent revocation” of his law enforcement certification.
Griffin, who does not have an attorney listed for him in the hearing notice, could not be reached for comment. A message sent Tuesday to an email address believed to belong to Griffin did not receive a reply by late Wednesday morning.
The Vermont Criminal Justice Council oversees the certification, training and standards of police officers in the state.
The misconduct accusations against Griffin state that he improperly accessed secure law enforcement video and photos.
Investigators found 34 “created” trading cards on Griffin’s work computer, with 15 of them depicting suspects, according to the hearing notice. Images on the cards were taken from booking photos, a law enforcement internal system and stills from holding cell video recordings, according to the document.
Griffin, the hearing notice stated, resigned from the sheriff’s department in January 2024, effective the following month.
His departure came amid an investigation into an incident where a “doctored” version of a body worn camera video of a person he arrested on a domestic assault charge was uploaded to TikTok, a social media platform, according to the document.
The voices on the body worn camera video “were modified and the video was captioned to mock and humiliate” the person who was arrested, the document stated.
A review of the body worn camera system showed that the video had been downloaded at Griffin’s request, according to the document.
During an internal affairs interview, Griffin said that the video was from his body worn camera, and he added he accessed the video to review on Jan. 6, 2024, in preparation for the criminal case, according to the document.
“When the interviewers noted that the criminal case had been dismissed on September 9, 2023, respondent could not explain his purpose for accessing the video on January 6, 2024,” the document stated.
Griffin was also asked as part of the internal affairs investigation whether he accessed booking photos of suspects and turned them into “trading cards” that contained “mocking or embarrassing descriptions.”
“Respondent originally denied making any such joke ‘trading cards’ but when confronted, claimed he only made them of co-workers,” the document stated.
A search of a computer assigned to him at the department revealed a file labeled, “Trading Cards,” according to the document.
“Physical copies of these cards had been circulated and found in the possession of another deputy Sheriff,” the document stated. “Multiple members of the Lamoille County Sheriff’s Office reported that Respondent had shown them several of these ‘trading cards.’”
The document does not contain images of the trading cards.
Lamoille County Sheriff Roger Marcoux declined to comment when reached last week.
Christopher Brickell, executive director of the Vermont Criminal Justice Council, said in an interview that Griffin is not currently working as a law enforcement officer.
Brickell said certain factors play into the long delay associated with bringing the matter to a council hearing, including awaiting results of an internal affairs probe as well as prioritizing other cases where people are currently working in law enforcement.
Griffin’s hearing before the council is set for Nov. 17.
The hearing is currently set as a “contested” hearing, but that could change, Brickell said.
“Likely this will resolve before November,” Brickell said. “That’s about the best I can say there.”
