Exclusive: Seat Pleasant Police Chief accused of lying on police certification application
SEAT PLEASANT, Md. - A search warrant FOX 5 has reviewed outlines serious allegations against Seat Pleasant Police Chief Devan Martin related to an application for police recertification made to the state of Maryland.
The small city in Prince George's County has just 24 police officers and Martin has been chief there for three years.
Martin has not been charged, but in a warrant dated October 3, prosecutors with the Maryland Office of the State Prosecutor say Martin is accused of wrongdoing related to a state application for police certification. The warrant says "Specifically, the allegations were that Chief Martin failed the CVSA and that another officer took a second CVSA in Chief Martin's place, in order to obtain a passing result."
A CVSA is a computer voice stress analysis test, which works to determine if someone is telling the truth, similar to a polygraph.
Police certifications or recertifications in Maryland require questions about prior drug use to be verified with either a polygraph or CVSA.
According to the warrant, in an interview with the employee accused of taking a test for Martin the investigator found evidence of two separate tests. The warrant described the evidence as "...the first file was titled Martin, Devan.CVSA and the second file titled Martin, Devan true.VSA."
In a statment from the city's Chief Operating Officer Jeannelle Wallace, the City of Seat Pleasant says in part, "...it does not appear that there was any wrongdoing on the part of the leadership or the Chief. This smear campaign is the result of a disgruntled former employee.”
Sources close to Martin say he did not ask an employee to take a truth test on his behalf.
The warrant seeks a USB drive for evidence relating to the truth tests, saying that evidence relates to possible charges of perjury and misconduct in office.
A spokeswoman for the Office of the State Prosecutor said it does not confirm or deny investigations unless charges are filed.
Seat Pleasant officials submitted the following statement regarding the accusations levelled at Martin:
It has been brought to the attention of the Department that a former City employee who was disciplined for serious acts of misconduct violations and is now separated from the City reported to the Maryland Police Training Commission allegations that an employee of the Police Department falsified the results of a truth verification examination. It is further alleged that these actions were given at the directive of Chief Devan A. Martin regarding his truth verification examination.