Attorney: Only wrong in Roby case is certain city officials’ ‘abuse of power’

NC GAZETTE / WBRT RADIO
STAFF REPORT

Thursday, June 2, 2016, 5:55 p.m. — Mayor John Royalty’s firing of former police Capt. Tom Roby was “an act of retribution and a way to justify the City’s much-criticized police reorganization,” according to his attorney, Keith Sparks of McCoy & Sparks.

In a press release issued Thursday afternoon, Sparks said the city’s firing was a way to publicly humiliate the 27-year department veteran.

Sparks noted Roby’s firing came approximately two weeks after his law firm issued open records requests pertaining to Roby’s unexplained demotion from Captain to patrolman.

“I was told this upset the City,” Sparks stated.

According to the press release, two weeks after Sparks’ open records request, “Captain Roby was called into the Mayor’s Office and read an Employee Warning Report saying that he committed a crime by essentially cleaning out his desk and file cabinets.”

Click here to download the press release. (a new window will open).

Sparks states that when he contacted city officials to determine the type of investigation was performed to reach the conclusions listed in the report, “instead of disclosing the facts, I was told by the City’s HR director that we were not permitted to ask any questions.

“In short, we believe this action was a thinly veiled threat to discourage his pursuit of a civil case against the City.

“For the record, Tom Roby did nothing wrong. The only wrong being committed here is the continued abuse of power by certain City officials.

“Captain Roby simply put old copies of documents that he had stored in his office into the department’s trash box. Most were duplicates of case files whose originals are still of record at the Bardstown PD and Greater Hardin County Narcotic Task Force. Some were his notes on matters that never developed into a case. Some were his personal training manuals.

“Captain Roby did this openly, in full view, and with the full knowledge of his superiors” — something that former Chief Rick McCubbin acknowledged earlier in his own statement posted to social media.

“Had the investigators been interested in the truth, they would have asked him and known this. Had they interviewed Chief McCubbin, they would have known this,” Sparks states.

“I did speak with Chief McCubbin. He says that Captain Roby was cautious, organized and open about what he was doing – getting rid of duplicates. Chief McCubbin said that to his knowledge Captain Roby did not violate any policy of the City.

“Captain Roby fully intends to sue the City for his wrongful demotion, discharge, and the defamation of his character. We intend to show that all of this was orchestrated as retribution for what the Mayor and others perceived as past wrongs.

“Being elected to office does not grant permission to abuse power.”

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