Judge dismisses lawsuit against Monroe County Sheriff's Office

MONROE — A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit that claimed the Monroe County Sheriff's Office violated constitutional rights of a pair of related Rockwood automotive service and towing businesses and their owner.

In an order and opinion filed Aug. 29, U.S. District Judge Shalina D. Kumar dismissed the lawsuit that was filed in March 2022 by Jacques (Jack) Poli and his businesses, Rockwood Auto Parts Inc. and Rockwood Towing Inc. She ruled in favor of a motion for summary judgment made by Monroe County, Sheriff Troy Goodnough and Michael Preadmore, who is now chief deputy at the sheriff's office. Kumar dismissed the case with prejudice, meaning no new lawsuits can be filed regarding these claims.

“This decision by the Court, after looking at the facts and evidence, reaffirmed good government and practices by the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office in partnership with the County," Goodnough said in a news release. "On each and every allegation made, the Court reviewed the testimony at deposition, the records, and the facts. What resulted was the full and complete dismissal of these allegations. For Chief Deputy Preadmore, fully and completely defeating the meritless allegations of an improper search was an expected outcome as every action taken was within the law and constitution.”

Poli's lawsuit alleged Goodnough and Preadmore, who was a detective sergeant at the time, had made unlawful searches of his business and residence and that the sheriff's office violated his equal protection rights regarding the awarding of a contract to service the sheriff's office's vehicles and the assignment of companies on the county's "tow list." That list is used when deputies ask the dispatch center to send a wrecker when a vehicle owner has no preference on which wrecker service to use.

The incidents that led to the lawsuit took place after Goodnough took office in 2021. Rockwood Auto had provided exclusive service to the sheriff's office's fleet of vehicles since 2018 without a contract. After Goodnough took office, the county sought bids for a contract to do the fleet service. Rockwood, Gerweck Nissan and another business submitted bids, with Gerweck's being the lowest. The county awarded the contract to Gerweck. Kumar wrote that Rockwood Auto claimed this "violated its right to equal protection by mandating the fleet maintenance service work it had been performing exclusively be subject to a competitive bidding process and for not being selected under that bid process."

Choosing the lowest bidder is a rational basis for the county to make the decision it made regarding the fleet service contract, Kumar wrote.

Similarly, Rockwood Towing claimed its equal protection rights were violated when the sheriff's office reassigned which towing companies would be called to different areas of the county. Rockwood was removed from one area and an additional towing service was added to two areas where Rockwood previously had exclusive coverage.

Poli's lawsuit claimed that both the tow list assignments and the awarding of the fleet service contract were made out of Goodnough's alleged personal animus toward Poli, Kumar wrote. However, the only evidence of any animus was an email from Goodnough to Poli's son, who also worked at the businesses, telling him there had been reports of unprofessional conduct by Poli toward sheriff's office employees and a complaint by a civilian about a fee. Goodnough also mentioned an ongoing criminal investigation regarding a complaint that Poli had kicked a customer's vehicle.

"If you are managing Rockwood Towing, I encourage you to put your father on notice that his actions towards Sheriff’s Office employees will NOT be tolerated," Goodnough wrote to Anthony Poli.

"Goodnough’s criticism pertains solely to Jack Poli’s interactions with the (sheriff's office) and does not reflect the personal malice 'unrelated to [his] official duties' required for rational-basis-defeating animus," Kumar wrote.

Kumar ruled that Rockwood Towing was not treated differently from other companies when the county reassigned wrecker companies to various parts of the county. Like Rockwood, another wrecker service lost its exclusive claim to an area of the county. Rockwood was removed from another area because that area was oversaturated with wrecker services and Rockwood was furthest away, which caused concern for deputies when they were helping the owners of disabled vehicles.

The claims of Goodnough and Preadmore conducting unconstitutional searches were made after they visited Rockwood Auto to audit sheriff's office vehicles and equipment that were stored there, Kumar wrote. When Goodnough and Preadmore arrived, Anthony Poli let them look look around, never objected to them being there and did not ask them to leave.

While there, Goodnough asked about a boat trailer, and Anthony Poli told them it was at his father's residence. Anthony Poli called his father, Jack, and Goodnough and Preadmore went to meet Jack at his home, but he was not there. They called him and arranged to meet the next day.

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When Poli let them into a pole barn, Goodnough and Preadmore saw the trailer with a boat on it.

"Jack explained that the boat belonged to him and that he had purchased it from his niece who had initially purchased it from the County," Kumar wrote.

Preadmore photographed the boat and boat trailer, and they left.

"Jack never objected to either Goodnough and Preadmore’s presence or their taking photographs, and he never asked them to leave," Kumar wrote.

There was no coercion or ruse by Goodnough and Preadmore that could have led to an unlawful search, Kumar wrote.

“On behalf of the County, I thank Sheriff Goodnough and Chief Deputy Preadmore for their time and dedication in defending this baseless lawsuit," county administrator and chief financial officer Michael Bosanac said. "Their time spent defending the interests of the Sheriff’s Office is time that could have been better spent focused entirely on serving our community. It is unfortunate that this lawsuit was ever filed. We prevailed in showing the actions taken were to ensure timely towing services by making some common-sense service area assignments and that competitive bidding is part of the process in business awards. These everyday occurrences should not end in litigation costing our community money that could otherwise be spent on our citizens. Our attorneys did a great job making sure the Court saw and heard the truth through the facts. We appreciate the work of Andrew Brege and Thomas Beindit, who were skilled and dedicated on our behalf.”

“As a final point to this matter," Bosanac continued, "I think it speaks volumes of the value and character of the County and Sheriff’s Office that Rockwood Towing remains on the no-preference tow list even after making unfounded allegations about the County, Sheriff, and Detective Sergeant Preadmore. They remain on the list as it is the right thing to do to best serve the motoring public with responsive services from a range of towing companies.”

— Contact reporter David Panian at dpanian@lenconnect.com or follow him on X, formerly Twitter: @lenaweepanian.

This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Federal judge dismisses lawsuit against Monroe County Sheriff's Office