LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) – Fifteen minutes of surveillance video from Oct. 13, 2020, modified former Michigan State Police Trooper Megan Moryc’s life.
The video, obtained by MSP investigators as a part of felony and administrative probes, exhibits Moryc alongside along with her then-boyfriend, Trooper Trevin Antcliff, in addition to Troopers Elie Awad, Patrick Enviornment and his spouse, Trooper Jake Yacuone and Det. Sgt. Nicholas VanderMolen within the foyer and out in entrance of a resort in Traverse Metropolis, a resort city in northern Michigan.
(Images: Michigan State Police)
The troopers have been attending a quarterly assembly of the Michigan State Police Troopers Affiliation, their union. That they had participated in a meet-and-greet social hour within the resort, the place the union had paid for an open bar. All of them had been ingesting alcohol, and so they all admitted later to investigators that they have been drunk.
Moryc was, by her personal admission, very drunk.
The troopers engaged in banter and bodily touched, punched and grabbed one another, the video exhibits.
However every little thing wasn’t enjoyable and video games, no less than to not all these current. A few of them complained to their bosses.
And people complaints grew to become career-defining for Moryc. They led to felony costs, a plea discount that left her in jail and, in the end, to her being fired.
Additionally they led to an almost 5-year battle as Moryc has tried to win again her job after being reinstated by an arbitrator and courts – primarily based on what occurred throughout this incident – after which fired for a second time.
Wendy Murphy, a professor at New England Regulation in Boston and chief of the Ladies and Kids’s Advocacy Challenge on the college, says the “aggressive physicality” on show within the movies is a part of the “hyper-masculine” tradition of legislation enforcement.
Wendy Murphy, a professor at New England Regulation in Boston and chief of the Ladies and Kids’s Advocacy Challenge on the college. (Courtesy Picture. WLNS)
“There’s no question that the unique environment of law enforcement breeds a sense of aggression,” she stated. “There’s no doubt that the nature of law enforcement, the environment of being a police officer, brings with it a sense of physicality. A unique appreciation, if you will, for the norm of being physical, being physical in ways that other people aren’t.”
Murphy stated the roughhousing in such conditions can also be knowledgeable by sociological variations between women and men, variations which might be exacerbated within the male-dominated world of legislation enforcement.
“But you know there is some research that tells us when men get together because they have as much permission to be physical, and in an affectionate sense with each other, they do tend to be aggressive in a physical way with each other as a form of affection,” Murphy stated. “So, we’re speaking a few lady in that setting.
“A woman in very much a men’s environment, trying to get along – I mean, perhaps trying really hard to get along by being one of the guys – and when she steps it up in that way, she gets punished.”
Certainly, Moryc was punished. Awad, Enviornment and Yacuone filed complaints towards her, alleging she had violated them and assaulted them sexually. MSP stated Moryc, 40, a trooper since 2016, broke the legislation and violated coverage. She stated her job was taken from her due to intercourse discrimination and harassment.
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The 6 Information Investigates crew, since August, has been investigating this dispute between Moryc and the MSP, reviewing tons of of pages of inside investigations, court docket filings, court docket opinions, emails and prosecutorial communications. The paperwork are offered as quoted, together with spelling and grammatical errors.
Moryc has sat for hours of on-camera interviews, however officers for the state police and the Division of Michigan Lawyer Normal have declined to reply to particular questions from the 6 Information Investigates crew.
This dispute, which at one level reached the Michigan Supreme Court docket, is chronicled on this ongoing report by 6 Information Investigates a few sexualized “big boys’ club” on the Lakeview Submit of the Michigan State Police.
Moryc Court docket of Appeals DecisionDownload
Positioned on go away
When the incident in Traverse Metropolis was reported, an MSP administrative investigation was opened and virtually instantly placed on maintain to facilitate a felony investigation. Moryc was positioned on paid administrative go away on Oct. 20, 2020.
‘Big Boys’ Membership’: Incessantly Requested Questions
Det. First Lt. Mark Harris and Det. Sgt. Mike Fink of the seventh District Headquarters, situated in Gaylord, have been assigned to analyze the case.
Det. Sgt. Mike Fink (Picture: Michigan State Police)
Det. First Lt. Mark Harris (Picture: Michigan State Police)
Harris retired from MSP in June. On the time of the allegations towards Moryc, Fink was additionally taking part in a joint investigation of the Wolverine Watchmen, who have been accused of planning to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
The precise felony criticism towards Moryc was formally filed by Sgt. Robert Metivier of the Lakeview Submit on Oct. 16, 2020 – three days after the alleged assaults.
Sgt. Robert Metivier. (Picture: Michigan State Police)
Metivier already had a rocky relationship with Moryc. She had accused him in 2018, unofficially, of gender discrimination primarily based on his selections associated to coaching to turn into an proof technician and having her wait outdoors a home violence scene till a 3rd male officer arrived.
In a 6-page letter to Human Assets in 2023, Moryc filed formal discrimination complaints towards members of the Lakeview Submit, together with Metivier. These allegations have been closed as “unfounded.”
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Moryc’s investigation criticism by no means famous Metivier’s acknowledgement through the inside investigation that he had, in truth, made the command determination primarily based on wanting three massive people, who have been male, to make entry on the scene. He was cleared of discrimination regardless of this admission.
The alleged assault
Metivier, who by textual content message referred the 6 Information Investigates crew to MSP authorized counsel to reply questions, advised investigators he first was knowledgeable of the alleged sexual and bodily assaults within the morning of Oct. 14, when he approached a lot of the different troopers who had been current that night time.
The troopers, he stated in a recorded interview with MSP’s Skilled Requirements Companies, disclosed “they were assaulted” the night time earlier than.
“I didn’t know if I could take them serious, OK?,” Metivier says. “As a result of we’re simply speaking at this level and like – what are you doing about this? So, we went to the on line casino, we have been assaulted on the best way.
“And I’m like … I don’t know what you guys are talking about,” Metivier stated.
He repeated that the troopers advised him, ‘No, we’re going to get on the bus.’ I stated, ‘What?’”
That’s when Metivier stated the troopers alleged that Moryc had “stuck her thumb up [Trooper Patrick Arena’s] ass and then reached around and tried to grab him by the crotch area.”
Metivier stated they advised him Moryc had assaulted Troopers Awad, VanderMolen and Yacuone, too.
Metivier advised investigators that at dinner the next night that “Moryc approached the troopers, specifically Awad, and apologized, “for what I did last night.”
“So, I’m like, ‘Oh my God, it is true,’” Metivier advised the investigator months. “Holy crap. So, no big deal. And I’m like, oh yeah, yeah, you know, I’m thinking, what do I do? But you know what? I’m not going to let it ruin my night.”
The ‘crap storm’ begins
However the next day, Metivier stated, he acquired a name from “I think it was either Arena or Awad” in regards to the incident.
“They said, well, you know, if this was flipped over, like if Megan was a guy and we’re all girls and we did this, there’s a good chance we might not be able to talk to you right now,” Metivier stated within the recorded interview.
He stated the troopers advised him to report it up the chain of command, to Lt. Jason Nemecek. Metivier stated he referred to as his command lieutenant that night on his drive house from Traverse Metropolis and defined the allegations broadly with out particular identities of the troopers.
“Can you give me some advice as to what you think I should do?” Metivier advised investigators that he had requested his superiors. “And his [Lt. Jason Nemecek’s] advice was, to me, was now, you know, what I have to do. You already know the answer. What you have to do, you got to report it.”
The next day, Oct. 16 – two days after Metivier grew to become conscious of the alleged assaults – he met with command in Lakeview and reported the incident.
“I said, so I’m reporting it to you. I know one step has to go on, you know, to the next step and to the next step,” Metivier stated in his interview. “So, I’m … I’m washing my hands of it, and now it’s to you guys. You do what you got to do. And they’re like, ‘Holy crap.’ And then, obviously, the crap storm started after that.”
A warrant and an arrest
That “crap storm,” as Metivier outlined it, unfolded when the MSP referred its felony investigation to the Grand Traverse County Prosecutor’s Workplace, which obtained a warrant for Moryc’s arrest for crimes it alleged occurred on Oct. 13, 2020.
Moryc-register-of-actionsDownload
Moryc was charged with two counts of assault and battery and two counts of felony sexual conduct fourth diploma at her arraignment on Jan. 20, 2021. Assault and battery is a misdemeanor in Michigan. CSC 4 is what is named a “high misdemeanor,” with a punishment of as much as 2 years in jail, fines and registration on the Michigan Intercourse Offenders Registry.
The Michigan Fee on Regulation Enforcement Requirements, MCOLES, oversees licensing for legislation enforcement within the state. Their guidelines prohibit licensing anybody with a conviction for against the law with a punishment of greater than 1 12 months in jail.
Prosecutors argued Moryc dedicated the CSC 4 by means of pressure, particularly unexpectedly.
Kyle Attwood, chief assistant prosecutor in Grand Traverse County, advised 6 Information that the prosecutors didn’t need to show Moryc had sexual intent within the alleged sexual assault.
“It’s something that doesn’t require proof of her specific intent, necessarily,” Attwood stated. “It’s either intended to engage in sexual touching or touching that could reasonably be construed as having been done for a sexual purpose. So based on the context of the touching itself, I think there was a thought that it reasonably could have reasonably been construed as being done for a sexual purpose.”
Moryc has maintained, in interviews with 6 Information, in administrative interviews, in an arbitration listening to and in subsequent authorized filings, that she had no sexual intent in her actions that night time.
She advised investigators it was “horseplay” and a “game of grab ass” with coworkers that “went too far.” Moryc additionally advised this to six Information in two interviews in October and December of 2024, the place she had invited her therapist to take a seat in on the interview.
‘Why was she the only one charged?’
Evaluation of the quarter-hour of video from the foyer of the lodge and the driveway the place troopers waited that night time for the shuttle to the on line casino raises questions, legislation professor Murphy stated.
“I think anybody watching these videos would say, ‘Wait. I’ve seen that before. I’ve been in that situation before,” she stated. “‘Nobody was punished in the workplace, much less were they criminally charged for it, sent to jail.’”
Murphy stated of the video: “It strikes me as absurd. I’ve been a prosecutor. I’ve been a prosecutor of sex crimes cases. There is no way I would have filed charges in this case. And I say that regardless of the fact [who is] the aggressor – and again this was a group of friends out having a good time drinking – there’s no way I would have filed charges here. I would have thought that it was unethical, frankly, for me to file charges.”
Attwood didn’t reply to an e-mail inquiry about Murphy’s evaluation.
Murphy famous that a number of of the lads are seen on video grabbing the privates of different males in addition to placing them. However the exercise seems to be “playful” and “horseplay.”
However the MSP’s investigation didn’t end in a referral for felony costs towards any of the lads, and that strikes Murphy as odd, she stated.
“I would look at the video and say she is not the only one who was touching people without their consent,” Murphy stated. “She’s not the only one who was roughhousing in a way that you say was sexual, that was touching people, that there were even times when she was arguably strangled. Somebody had their arm around her neck. Didn’t appear to me that she was consenting to that. Why was she the only one charged?”
Looking for responses
Michigan State Police Communications Director Shanon Banner. (Courtesy Picture, MSP. WLNS)
6 Information supplied to share the movies by way of Zoom for an on-the-record response from MSP spokesperson Shanon Banner and Attwood, the chief assistant prosecutor in Grand Traverse County.
The query: Why did the conduct of troopers within the movies not rise to felony or administrative sanction, because it had for Moryc?
Attwood didn’t reply to the emailed supply. Banner declined.
“We will not be participating in an interview on a personnel matter. Below is an additional statement you can use,” she wrote in an e-mail response to the 6 Information Investigates crew.
“The Michigan State Police is committed to fostering a work environment free from all forms of harassment, and will not tolerate, condone or allow harassment by members. All allegations made known to the MSP by Trooper Moryc, to include allegations of harassment and discrimination, were investigated by the Professional Standards Section at the time the allegations were made in 2020.”
On Oct. 31, after receiving that response from Banner, 6 Information responded with a number of screenshots exhibiting the touching and placing of different troopers from the identical night time and the identical incident involving Moryc.
6 Information requested Banner once more to elucidate why these troopers had not confronted sanctions and why their actions weren’t famous within the felony investigation report. She has not responded.
Atwood didn’t reply to repeated follow-up inquiries by cellphone and e-mail. The troopers concerned didn’t reply to cellphone calls. Metivier, reached by textual content message, referred the 6 Information Investigates crew to the MSP authorized division.
‘Judged differently’
Murphy stated it seems the rationale the lads might not have been sanctioned is as a result of Moryc is feminine.
“The woman was judged differently. I think she was judged differently because she was female,” Murphy advised 6 Information. “And if someone told me that she was judged harshly because she was suffering retaliation for something else? It wouldn’t surprise me. I mean, when I saw the video, it made me think – you would only file charges in this case if you had a different agenda.”
Marc Curtis, an legal professional from Norton Shores, was Moryc’s protection legal professional through the 2021 felony proceedings. He stated the connection along with his shopper “did not part ways on a very favorable ending.”
However he stated he does assume there’s something to Moryc’s claims of retaliation. “Do I think she got screwed over in this and the Michigan State Police are messing with her a little bit?” he advised 6 Information in a phone dialog. “Yeah.”
Moryc maintains that the troopers and sergeant concerned did have an agenda in submitting the criticism towards her.
She famous Metivier’s alleged sexist actions and an incident that occurred Oct. 14, 2020, through which one other trooper was “secretly” recording the opposite troopers, together with Moryc, throughout dinner.
She was infuriated by that invasion of privateness, she advised 6 Information in an interview and stated so in a criticism she filed towards Trooper Jacob Lewis.
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Lewis was cleared of each felony and administrative wrongdoing in that incident, with different troopers telling investigators they have been conscious he was recording on his cellphone.
In contrast to in different felony investigations, MSP investigators didn’t search or receive a warrant for Lewis’s cellphone. As a substitute, these investigators accepted an audio file submitted by Lewis with out verifying if it had been modified in any approach.
Lewis didn’t reply to messages left for him at his present posting.
Michigan is a one-party consent state relating to recording. Which means just one participant in a dialog must consent to being recorded. As a result of one other trooper was conscious of the recording on the time Lewis walked away from the desk and the recording was found, no crime was dedicated, investigators and the Grand Traverse County Prosecutor’s Workplace decided.
PSS officers investigated Moryc’s allegations that the troopers and the sergeant conspired to degree felony costs, however MSP officers discovered no proof to assist the allegations, the report concluded, and the criticism was dominated unfounded.
The plea deal
Moryc stated she entered the “no contest” plea within the assault-and-battery costs on the recommendation of her legal professional, Curtis, who advised 6 Information his recommendation was knowledgeable by a dialog with union officers, who famous a conviction on the CSC 4 costs would have resulted in Moryc’s speedy termination.
A “no contest” plea isn’t an act of contrition, though a court docket treats such pleas as a responsible willpower when administering punishment.
An assault-and-battery conviction seemingly wouldn’t have affected her continued employment with MSP, Curtis stated. Moryc stated she was knowledgeable by the prosecution and her protection legal professional that she seemingly would face probation and thus preserve her proper to hold a weapon so she might proceed on the job. As a substitute, she was sentenced by District Court docket Choose Robert Cooney, the county’s former prosecutor, to 30 days within the Grand Traverse County Jail. She served 21 days.
Moryc advised 6 Information that she was assured by each attorneys that she can be unlikely to face jail time as a part of the deal. However Cooney, in accepting the no-contest deal, declined to position Moryc on probation. She stated he expressed concern in regards to the legal responsibility of permitting her to hold a weapon whereas on probation.
Simply days earlier than Moryc was scheduled for launch from the jail, MSP officers confirmed up, carrying MSP folders, and served Moryc with discover of an administrative interview to be held whereas she was an inmate. The service of the executive interview successfully recognized her as a legislation enforcement agent, she argued, and put her well being and security in danger.
The interview was delayed till she was out of jail and in the end led to the executive listening to through which she was discharged in the summertime of 2021. Though Moryc was advised the no-contest deal wouldn’t impression her skill to proceed as a trooper, that seems to be a misguided evaluation of how MSP officers seen Moryc’s actions in October 2020.
Banner’s customary response: “Oversight of the investigation process is the responsibility of the Professional Standards Section. Independent of whether a criminal charge results in a conviction, the employee may still be subject to administrative actions if the investigation reveals a violation of department policy. Policy violations are investigated thoroughly and acted upon in a manner consistent with labor law and collective bargaining agreements.”
MSP leaders terminated Moryc after her launch in 2021, focusing their arguments earlier than a state arbitrator on the accusations of felony sexual conduct 4th diploma – an argument the arbitrator rejected.
That arbitrator’s ruling was overturned by Ingham County Circuit Court docket Choose James Jamo however upheld by each the Michigan Court docket of Appeals and the Michigan Supreme Court docket.
6 Information Digital Content material Supervisor Duncan Phenix contributed to this report.
HELP IS AVAILABLE
In case you or somebody you recognize is experiencing home or sexual violence, there may be assist.
In case you are in speedy hazard, name 911 or your native legislation enforcement company.
For assist associated to home violence, name: 1-800-799-7233
For assist associated to sexual assault, name: 800-656-HOPE (4673)
Learn this collection so as:
Discontent within the Michigan State Police
‘Wolf in the hen house’
‘I never wanted to cheat on my husband’
The ‘womanizer’
‘An excessive amount of room within the legislation … to discriminate’
Incessantly Requested Questions
‘The degradation of girls’
‘Gender discrimination and harassment, together with sexual’
