Officers on paid leave for up to two years while under criminal investigation
Cops credibly accused of serious crimes like domestic violence and stalking have spent a year or more on paid leave awaiting disciplinary findings.
Former Seattle police officer Rosa Ojeda-Lopez had a short career—and she spent most of it on paid leave. Hired in 2019, Ojeda-Lopez finished her field training in 2020. She was only a full-fledged officer for a few months before she was arrested for assaulting her significant other, also a police officer, at a going-away party for another officer. She went on administrative leave in August 2020.
Prosecutors did not charge Ojeda-Lopez, but the Office of Police Accountability found ample evidence to terminate her in December 2022. Ojeda-Lopez was paid a full salary during the 28 months she spent waiting for the OPA’s investigation to conclude. According to city payroll data, Ojeda-Lopez was paid $100,636 in 2021 and $104,497 in 2022.
One officer facing similar allegations has been on paid leave for nearly as long. In September 2021, Ofc. Andrew Swartz was placed on leave after SPD received credible allegations that he stalked his ex-girlfriend using police databases and tracking devices.
According to the most recent roster available, dated June 5, 2023, he is currently on leave and still employed. Swartz didn’t work a day in 2022 and was paid $118,273. Swartz was one of five officers who restrained Albert Fredericks Jr. in 2017. Fredericks, who was in crisis, died in the ambulance immediately after. A King County inquest found that the officers’ use of force contributed to but did not cause his death.
In 2022, Ofc. Daniel Perez-Puga was suspended for 15 days for threatening his ex-girlfriend and allegedly assaulting her. Hired in 2020, Perez-Puga was placed on leave in July 2021—two-and-half months after he finished field training—and returned to work in June of the following year. He was paid $94,022 in 2021 and $109,737 in 2022.
SPD trainer Jonard Legaspi was placed on leave in November 2021 following an incident where he allegedly pinned his 18-year-old daughter to a bed during an argument, causing visible bruising. Legaspi returned to work in the fall of 2022 after the Snohomish County prosecutor declined charges.
Despite witnesses and physical evidence, the OPA issued inconclusive findings, citing their alleged inability to contact Legaspi’s daughter. Legaspi was paid $139,375 last year but only worked for a few months in 2022.
SPOG contract determines SPD’s paid leave policy
There is no policy governing paid administrative leave listed in the Seattle police manual. SPD Public Affairs Lt. John O’Neil responded to our request for information about the department’s administrative leave policy by telling us to submit a public record request to SPD human resources.
The section of Seattle’s municipal code governing the practice grants city departments authority to use administrative leave at their discretion if it is “in the best business interest of the department, and there is no other work unit to which the employee can be assigned.”
The city code mandates some Council oversight but ultimately leaves it up to departments. Under the regulation, SPD has a legitimate interest in placing officers accused of crimes on leave because they could taint criminal investigations or embarrass the department if allowed to continue working.
City and department personnel rules are overruled by collective bargaining agreements when there is a conflict. The current Seattle Police Officers Guild contract contains no references to paid administrative leave.
However, the contract limits “indefinite suspensions used for investigative purposes” to 30 days unless an officer has been charged with a felony or gross misdemeanor “involving either moral turpitude, or a sex or bias crime, where the allegation if true could lead to termination.”
Student and probationary officers not covered by the collective bargaining agreement are treated differently. For example, the department placed student officer Jafar Al-Salehi on unpaid leave last year after he was charged with cyberstalking. He was terminated six days after the charges were filed.
Paid leave policies applied inconsistently
SPD’s use of paid leave during criminal investigations is out of line with other department HR policies, which limit the amount of time an officer can be on leave for any reason. According to the manual, unpaid personal leave is limited to 12 months.
Paid leave is used at the discretion of the department’s command without an explicit framework for when officers are permitted to return to work. Sgt. Michael Tietjen was placed on paid leave in December 2020 after he allegedly ran his unmarked SUV onto a sidewalk full of protesters and called them “cockroaches.”
Tietjen returned to work roughly a month later. The investigation, which sustained findings and recommended suspension, wasn’t completed until April 2021.
Ofc. Anthony Belgarde was arrested and cited for a 2015 bar brawl in Port Orchard. According to SPD rosters, he was on leave for most of 2016 and 2017, but it’s unclear if this was related to the investigation. Belgarde returned to work and was transferred to the sexual assault unit, but the OPA investigation dragged on for five more years.
When the OPA finally completed its inquiry in 2022, it was ultimately blocked from issuing sustained findings by deadlines imposed by the SPOG contract.
While the SPOG contract forbids the Office of Police Accountability from conducting a criminal investigation, it is technically allowed to conduct a parallel administrative investigation while waiting for the criminal investigation to conclude.
In practice, this happens rarely—if ever. The standard OPA procedure is to refer allegations for criminal investigation and pause the administrative investigation, with consent from SPOG, until charges are filed or declined. Nevertheless, the OPA sometimes has enough evidence to terminate an officer without a criminal conviction or charge, as it did in Officer Ojeda-Lopez’s case.
That could be a risky move. If SPD terminates the officer and the criminal investigation yields no charges, it potentially creates a legal pretext for a costly wrongful termination and defamation suit.
Officers in Washington state have generally fared well in such cases. Last year, Spokane County paid out $19.5 million to a deputy who was fired after an internal investigation found he used racial slurs and talked about killing Black people on the phone with another deputy. Kent police agreed to pay $1.5 million to avoid litigation with a commander who displayed a Nazi insignia on his door.
Given the potential payout and legal costs of a wrongful termination suit, paying salaries to accused officers might be considered a safer option for the department from the standpoint of financial risk.
Still, there is strong evidence of criminal misconduct in many cases, and outside investigations can move slowly. Swartz’s actions were witnessed by multiple people, including the victim, her boyfriend, and a man who described himself as Swartz’s “close friend of 20 years.”
Detectives told the local newspaper they believed there was probable cause to charge Swartz with felony stalking. Snohomish County prosecutors still haven’t filed charges against him, but a judge granted the protective order requested by his ex.
Swartz’s alleged misconduct is being investigated under case number 2021OPA-0366. According to the OPA complaint tracker, it is currently being investigated, but the deadline for findings was two months ago. It is likely being “tolled” in agreement with SPOG.