Sleepy Hollow lieutenant demoted to sergeant following investigation

A Sleepy Hollow police lieutenant under investigation for several months has been demoted to sergeant.

The investigative findings related to Stephen Dougherty have not been made public. But a letter last week from a lawyer who conducted the investigation to Joan Morrison, wife of Officer Clifford Morrison, suggested that her claim that Dougherty groped her at a family gathering six years ago was substantiated.

"Based upon the interviews conducted as a part of this investigation and the evidence available to us at this time, we found that Mr. Dougherty did engage in inappropriate conduct towards you at his home in or around the Spring of 2017," the letter read. "Mr. Dougherty's conduct was unprofessional and reflects poorly on the Sleepy Hollow Police Department."

Neither Dougherty's demotion nor even his identity was made public when the village Board of Trustees approved a disciplinary agreement at its Nov. 28 meeting and Chief Anthony Bueti declined to confirm the demotion.

But on Monday Mayor Martin Rutyna issued a brief press release confirming that Dougherty had accepted the demotion to administrative sergeant in the face of disciplinary charges.

"Police Chief Bueti will continue working actively with his department to move forward after this investigation," he wrote.

The investigation began in the late spring after Morrison wrote to village officials about the groping incident and her husband alleged retaliatory treatment by Dougherty. The probe grew to include other issues, including a claim that Dougherty was observed engaging in sexual activity with a woman in a police car while on duty in 2020 just months after he was promoted from sergeant to lieutenant.

Dougherty, a Sleepy Hollow cop since 2009, was previously disciplined in 2021 for unauthorized use of a police car while off-duty, an incident that included him driving a fellow officer to and from her home so she could bring alcohol to a fire promotion celebration.

The demotion drops Dougherty's salary this year from $155,919 to $144,511. He did not immediately respond to a phone message Monday.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Sleepy Hollow NY cop demoted from lieutenant to sergeant