It's been eight months since Warren police Officer Doug Hipple was badly burned in a fire as he attempted to save three women at a Bonnie Brae group home.
Still, no one has been arrested. And to find out why, Hipple requested that the report from the investigation be turned over to him.
The report focuses on allegations Warren Officer Jeff Hoolihan disobeyed orders by contacting a witness in the arson case, jeopardizing the investigation. But the allegations could not be clearly proven, according to the report, released Monday after a public records request by us and Hipple.
Hipple said he has been trying to get the report for several weeks.
"The request was in, and now they are ignoring us," he said.
Hipple was injured in the April 28 arson and just returned to light duty early this month. Melissa Watson, 44, died from her injuries in July. Sheree Egry, 52, and Donna Cassidy, 52, recovered.
Police officials said confidential information on the arson investigation was contained in the internal report, so they did not want to release it until they had a chance to make sure those parts were removed. The internal investigation was conducted by Capt. Tim Roberts.
According to the report, the internal investigation began May 5. Hoolihan, a detective at the time, had been working with the Cleveland office of the FBI and the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio since 2006 on an insurance fraud case. Several people involved in that case surfaced during the course of the arson investigation.
According to the report, Lt. Gary Vingle on May 1 learned Hoolihan had been discussing the arson case with the U.S. Attorney's Office due to the connections. But, while investigators had a suspect, Vingle told Hoolihan "to hold off on his end," including with contacting one witness for assistance with the case, until a decision was made on a direction for the investigation.
However, Sgt. Martin Gargas in a statement said he received calls from the confidential informant that day after the informant was contacted by Hoolihan. During the second call, the informant said Hoolihan "chewed him out" for making a previous call to Gargas. The informant also said he was directed to say the conversations between he and Hoolihan took place the day after the fire.
When Vingle learned Hoolihan contacted the witness, he called Hoolihan who said he "couldn't explain his reasoning to my satisfaction," according to the report.
In his statement, Hoolihan said that after he learned the suspect's name, he offered his assistance in the investigation and contacted the FBI Task Force to make agents aware of the situation. He said Vingle overheard him and said not to do anything further until investigators got their plans in order.
However, Hoolihan said one FBI agent directed him to still contact the informant to ask if he would cooperate in the investigation. After receiving Vingle's call later, Hoolihan said he called back the informant, who told him he had spoken to Gargas.
In a statement, assistant U.S. Attorney David Toepfer said he told Hoolihan on May 1 to coordinate with other investigators to make sure they were on board before working with the informant. He said Hoolihan called him the next day saying he was in trouble over the conversations with the witness after Vingle's orders. Toepfer said he told Hoolihan he had made a mistake.
In the investigation documents, Roberts said in his decision dated Nov. 25 he could not prove if the allegations against Hoolihan were clearly true or not true, "therefore I cannot in all good conscience file any" administrative charges against Hoolihan.
Hoolihan said Monday he could not comment on the situation but that he had retained an attorney. After working as a detective the past 20 years, Hoolihan was moved to patrol in June after a round of layoffs.
Hipple said he remains frustrated no arrests have been made on the arson, and he voiced some of those concerns to the chief.
Since the fire, the Bonnie Brae home has been torn down. Chief Tim Bowers and other city officials said the arson investigation is ongoing and that they want it solved.
