HARRISON TWP. — The investigation into the alleged misconduct of Montgomery County Sheriff’s Deputy Benjamin Williams involving a woman stopped because he resigned while it was in process, Sheriff Rob Streck told News Center 7 on Friday.
>> EARLIER COVERAGE: Woman accuses Montgomery County deputy of asking for sex acts, internal review reveals
The internal investigation focused on accusations that Williams asked a woman for sexual favors and used a sheriff’s office computer to track down her address and her Snapchat account to send her a video of him performing a sex act on himself. The woman told supervisors on May 23 that Williams came to her home, without any official reason, and offered to help her -- but there was a catch.
“He asked for agreement (favors for favors) and to send him nudes and stuff of that sort. I said I’m not like that,” the woman said in her statement to sheriff’s investigators. She said Williams then asked for her Snapchat information and messaged her repeatedly, asking for favors “like sending nudes or performing sex for basic needs/things I wanted. I told him no on several occasions.”
The sheriff’s office immediately called Williams in and placed him on administrative leave. He resigned June 23.
Streck said he wants to send the community the message that the sheriff’s office will be prompt in handling all complaints or allegations of misconduct involving his personnel.
“We knew, if the statements were true, we had had policy violations,” Streck told News Center 7′s Mike Campbell. “We needed to make sure no laws had been broken and that he didn’t violate our victim by breaking the law.”
Streck said his investigators took the information they had to the county prosecutor’s office and to Vandalia Municipal Court, where the complaint was filed. Both offices refused charges.
“It’s all over,” he said of the investigation of the former deputy he would not identify by name.
“The individual resigned, so we did not have to move forward with an internal investigation,” Streck said.
The sheriff’s office will now keep the internal report on file, he said, noting, “As long as I am sheriff, that individual won’t work at the sheriff’s office ever again.”
Had Williams been fired, Streck said, the sheriff’s office would have had to navigate the handling of the officer’s case with the local union that represents deputies. But because Williams resigned, “We’re confident we won’t have to deal with it.”
As far as Williams seeking other employment in law enforcement, Streck said he hopes that any agency looking at him would do a thorough background check and come to the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office where they would find all of the reports.
“We’re confident that if an agency’s standards are high enough, it would be very difficult [for Williams] to get back into law enforcement,” the sheriff said.
Streck also said his investigators learned Williams had been driving with an expired license at least some of the time he was employed. Asked whether the sheriff’s office needs a policy to address sheriff’s personnel maintaining valid driver’s licenses, Streck said he’s not sure. Williams had been driving with an expired license well over any reasonable amount of time, he said.
“We’re very glad that this individual resigned and we’re done with any part of it,” Streck said.