LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) – After almost 5 years of combating to maintain her job as a trooper with the Michigan State Police, Megan Moryc was fired – for the second time – on Feb. 13 for allegedly mendacity below oath throughout a divorce listening to in 2018. She says she is the sufferer of gender discrimination and has filed swimsuit. MSP says the company is defending its staff from an abusive lady.
Moryc, 40, had confronted examination by her superiors, prosecutors, judges, arbiters and appellate judges – from administrative hearings to the Michigan Supreme Court docket – and one factor has been crystal clear: It doesn’t matter what was determined, MSP officers needed to withdraw her appointment as a trooper and ship her again to civilian life.
Former Michigan State Police Trooper Megan Moryc throughout an interview with 6 Information Investigates in 2024. (WLNS)
All of that is enjoying out as unions representing troopers and commanders for the MSP have overwhelmingly voted “no confidence” within the management of the MSP’s prime brass, Col. James F. Grady and his second-in-command, Lt. Col. Aimee Brimacomb. Each unions have known as for his or her resignations.
Photograph illustration. (WLNS)
The top of the Michigan Republican Occasion and present state Sen. Jim Runestad (R-White Lake) joined the unions in calling for the leaders’ resignations. He’s additionally known as for prison investigations into Brimacombe associated to accusations she used a 2015 black Buick Regal issued by the state for her work for private journey.
The workplace of Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer issued an announcement supporting Grady, whom she appointed to the put up, and his second-in-command.
In the midst of all of that’s the case involving Moryc, whose firing in February adopted an administrative listening to on Jan. 7 that was simply the most recent confrontation in her battle with MSP.
Since August 2024, the 6 Information Investigates Staff has been inspecting this battle between Moryc and the MSP, reviewing tons of of pages of inner investigations, courtroom filings, courtroom opinions, emails and prosecutorial communications. This has included audio and transcripts, surveillance movies and on-camera interviews with Moryc.
These interviews and paperwork obtained by Michigan’s Freedom of Info Act, generally known as FOIA, and former courtroom filings got here earlier than March 25, when a decide in Eaton County Circuit Court docket issued an order stopping Moryc – or anybody within the case – from releasing something obtained from discovery or throughout depositions of her ongoing Michigan Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act lawsuit towards the company.
Officers for the state of Michigan have declined to reply to detailed questions from the 6 Information Investigates Staff for months, however for the following a number of days, you’ll learn and think about what 6 Information Investigates has realized from this labyrinth of allegations, investigations, prison instances and inner actions and inactions by MSP.
The Michigan State Police Lakeview Put up in Lakeview, Mich. (WLNS)
You’ll find out about Moryc’s battle for a profession at a sexualized “big boys’ club” on the Lakeview Put up of the Michigan State Police.
The place this began
Megan Moryc, then married, in an interview with HOM-TV in 2016 throughout her Michigan State Police Coaching Academy. (Courtesy HOM-TV. WLNS)
MSP management first fired Moryc, a trooper since 2016, in 2021 after she accepted a plea deal to assault costs following a drunken incident with fellow troopers throughout a union gathering. She served 21 days within the Grand Traverse County Jail after which was fired on inner costs associated to alleged sexual assaults within the incident, costs an arbitrator couldn’t decide to be correct, costs that have been dropped as a part of the plea deal.
In February 2022, the arbitrator ordered Moryc to be reinstated. Her termination was downgraded to six months of unpaid suspension, and the state was on the hook for again pay to June 1, 2021.
Arb Determination MSP & MSPTA – Megan Moryc discharge[7091]Obtain
By means of attorneys on the workplace of the Michigan Legal professional Basic, MSP challenged that ruling, which was overturned by a neighborhood decide, reinstated by the Michigan Court docket of Appeals after which upheld when the state Supreme Court docket declined to listen to new arguments.
MSP management withheld her again pay till Might 22, 2025, and the Michigan Division of Treasury confirmed that she acquired a test from MSP. “The check description reads ‘MAKE WHOLE SETTLEMENT,’” treasury spokesman Ron Liex wrote in an e-mail to six Information Investigates.
Liex was unable to verify the quantity of the test, however 6 Information has realized it was for tens of hundreds of {dollars} lower than what Moryc must have been paid from June 1, 2021, till Oct. 2, 2025, when she returned to the state payroll.
Deducted from her again pay have been funds for premiums for medical insurance she didn’t have whereas the case labored by the courts and MSP didn’t make use of her. As well as, the test deducted annual pay she acquired from one other job she took whereas the case wound by the authorized system.
An assistant legal professional normal argued in December 2024 that Moryc couldn’t be totally restored to obligation, nor ought to the state need to pay her the totality of her again pay, as a result of her regulation enforcement license had lapsed in the course of the years-long appeals course of.
When required to revive Moryc to obligation, MSP instantly positioned her on paid suspension whereas the company investigated her for allegedly mendacity throughout a courtroom listening to. That investigation quickly got here to an finish.
This previous Dec. 20, MSP investigators declared she had lied below oath and advisable her quick termination, and on Jan. 7, she once more stood earlier than command employees in Grand Rapids for a disciplinary listening to to handle that suggestion.
The cost emerged from her testimony in the course of the divorce of former Trooper Trevin Saxon Antcliff, Moryc’s supervisor-turned-friend-turned-sex-partner-turned-dating partner-turned-lover, a person who MSP confirms resigned whereas going through felony perjury costs for a similar case and separate misdemeanor home violence costs.
Antcliff’s resignation in January 2024 had allowed him to maintain his almost 20-year pension, regardless of the pending prison instances and having confronted disciplinary motion, partially, for having sexually harassed Moryc, an admission that’s a part of her civil rights lawsuit towards the division.
Given all these points, that is what, partially, Moryc informed the disciplinary listening to on Jan. 7:
“The fact is, we are here for two reasons today. First, the men who have investigated this case appear to be incapable of providing a woman sexual agency. … I. DID. NOT. LIE. … Second, this department had constructive notice that Trooper Trevin Antcliff served as a danger to every woman he came in contact with. … The department is perusing [sic] this alleged perjury not because it believes a crime was committed but because it is attempting to mitigate its’ [sic] liabilities and to undermine my character and integrity. Let the facts stand as they are.”
Assertion learn by Megan Moryc to a disciplinary committee Jan. 7, 2025. (WLNS)
With-all-due-respectDownload
After Moryc’s assertion, officers adjourned, they mentioned, to contemplate the allegations extra completely. Then on Feb. 13, Moryc was known as earlier than the executive listening to group once more. This time, there have been no statements from her. She was terminated.
Not wanting to speak about it
Michigan State Police Communications Director Shanon Banner. (Courtesy Photograph, MSP. WLNS)
Dozens of emails and telephone calls to county prosecutors, troopers and command employees recognized within the reviews have gone unreturned or referred to others. MSP spokesperson Shanon Banner has issued solely blanket statements, avoiding answering particular questions:
“The Michigan State Police has a long-standing tradition of demanding the highest possible standards of professional conduct from its enlisted and civilian members. All allegations of misconduct are aggressively investigated. 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.”
Emailed assertion from Shanon Banner, communications director, Michigan State Police
The workplace of Michigan Legal professional Basic Dana Nessel additionally declined to debate specifics concerning the years-long authorized battle to maintain Moryc from the job.
“The Department of Attorney General’s only involvement in the matters you have identified is representing the Michigan State Police in two cases, MSP v MSPTA regarding a prior arbitration with a trooper, and Moryc v MSP, an employment case brought by the same trooper against MSP,” spokesperson Danny Wimmer wrote in response to questions from 6 Information. “As both matters are currently pending in court, we cannot comment at this time. And since our office is serving as legal counsel to MSP any discussions or advice related to those cases are attorney-client privileged communications, and cannot be discussed.”
E mail assertion from Danny Wimmer, spokesperson for the Division of Legal professional Basic.
Neither MSP nor the Workplace of the Legal professional Basic has defined how this prolonged authorized battle has benefited taxpayers, who’re footing the payments.
Grievance-1st-Amended-SIGNEDDownload
Moryc sued MSP in Eaton County Circuit Court docket, alleging violations of the state’s anti-discrimination regulation – the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act. Whereas allegations of retaliation towards her, such because the perjury investigation, proceed as part of her lawsuit, earlier allegations, together with sexual harassment, have been barred by the courtroom as a result of an excessive amount of time has elapsed between when the alleged discrimination occurred and when the grievance reached the courtroom.
Moryc v MSP register of actionsDownload
The prison case
Moryc had an unblemished document as a trooper stationed on the Lakeview Put up from her hiring in 2016 till October 2020, when she was accused of bodily and sexually assaulting fellow troopers throughout a drunken roughhousing session at a union occasion in Traverse Metropolis.
The above video is a compilation of snippets from about quarter-hour of surveillance video from a resort in Grand Traverse County, Oct. 13, 2024. Moryc may be seen within the gentle orange-colored shirt within the video. All quarter-hour of surveillance video have been utilized by MSP commander employees to justify Moryc’s termination in 2021 and through an arbitration listening to. 6 Information Investigates will launch the entire video from that case in a future report on this ongoing collection.
Moryc was charged with two counts of assault and battery and two counts of prison sexual conduct, 4th diploma and finally entered a “no contest” plea to the 2 counts of assault and battery, misdemeanors that allowed her to proceed a profession in regulation enforcement. A “no contest” plea is distinct from pleading responsible; pleading no contest means a defendant accepts conviction however doesn’t admit guilt.
Moryc District Court docket Register of ActionsDownload
However 86-2 District Court docket Decide Robert Cooney discarded her settlement with prosecutors, sending her to jail for 30 days, 21 of which she served. She was fired from her job and have become misplaced in what she calls “purgatory,” leaving her with a prison document and mired in a authorized battle for reinstatement.
Letter from Thomas Deasy concerning service in jailDownload
Simply days earlier than Moryc was scheduled for launch from the jail, MSP officers confirmed up, 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 regulation enforcement agent, she argued, and put her well being and security in danger. The interview was delayed till she was out of jail and finally led to the executive listening to during which she was discharged in the summertime of 2021.
After an arbitrator in February 2022 ordered the MSP to reinstate Moryc with again pay – ruling the actions in Traverse Metropolis didn’t rise to the extent requiring termination from employment – MSP leaders, represented by the legal professional normal’s workplace, appealed. MSP argued the arbitrator had exceeded her authority within the arbitration determination, Ingham County Circuit Court docket Decide James. Jamo agreed.
Ingham County Circuit Court docket Decide James Jamo. (Courtesy Ingham County Circuit Court docket. WLNS)
In that attraction by MSP, Jamo overturned the arbitration award, however his judgment was reversed on Dec. 28, 2023, in a broadcast unanimous opinion by a 3-judge panel of the Michigan Court docket of Appeals. A printed ruling by the Court docket of Appeals applies statewide except it’s overturned by the Michigan Supreme Court docket.
Morycc Court docket of Appeals DecisionDownload
“Moreover, unlike the CBA [collective bargaining agreement] at issue in Lenawee Co, nothing in the CBA here provides that an employee charged with or convicted of a crime is subject to mandatory termination, nor does it indicate that the arbitrator did not have the authority to reduce the grievant’s punishment from termination to an unpaid suspension,” the judges opined.
Michigan Supreme Court docket order in MorycDownload
And the attorneys for the legal professional normal did attraction once more to the Michigan Supreme Court docket, which on Sept. 18, 2024, declined to listen to the case, thus upholding the reinstatement. MSP put Moyrc again on state payroll on Oct. 2, however – “before the ink was dry” on her human sources paperwork, she mentioned – she was positioned on paid administrative depart however ordered to be obtainable Monday by Friday, from 8 a.m. to five p.m.
Misplaced her license
Movement for Entry of Order to Implement Arbitration AwardDownload
Whereas the inner investigation into whether or not or not Moryc lied below oath plowed ahead, attorneys from the state and her union have been battling in courtroom over the unique arbitration determination from February 2022.
In a listening to on Dec. 18 in Ingham County Circuit Court docket, once more earlier than Decide Jamo, Assistant Legal professional Basic Mary Waddell argued that Moryc was again on the State of Michigan payroll – and had been since Oct. 2 – however she couldn’t be rehired as a trooper.
Jamo-order-2024-enfore-arbitration-awardDownload
“She cannot legally be reinstated to an MSP trooper position because she lost her MCOLES (Michigan Commission on Law Enforcement Standards) certification,” Wardell informed Jamo, citing the Michigan Fee on Regulation Enforcement Requirements, the licensing agent for regulation enforcement in Michigan.
Timothy Dlugos, an legal professional representing the Michigan State Police Trooper Affiliation, the union for MSP troopers, argued on Moryc’s behalf.
“Her MCOLES license only lapsed because of the dilatory action of having to go through the appeal process here,” Dlugos informed Jamo. “It lapses after two years of inactivity. At the time she was ordered back to work by the arbitrator, her MCOLES license hadn’t lapsed.”
Moryc’s capability to resume her license with MCOLES remained unclear because the MSP investigated allegations of perjury. Up to now, she has not seen her license renewed, and with an administrative discovering that she lied, it might be unattainable for her to resume that license.
If she does, she’s going to discover herself on a “Brady Giglio list” of regulation enforcement brokers accused of being untruthful. That checklist is made obtainable to protection attorneys, permitting defendants to question the credibility of a regulation enforcement agent throughout trial.
The testimony
Michigan State Police Troopers Trevin Antcliff and Megan Moryc. (Courtesy picture. WLNS)
Moryc’s alleged perjury stemmed from whether or not she lied below oath on Oct. 9, 2018, in the course of the divorce continuing in Montcalm County between Antcliff and his second spouse, Nina. At problem: Have been Antcliff and Moryc in a romantic relationship, and was she sincere in her testimony?
Then-trooper Antcliff had been assigned as Moryc’s area coaching officer for the ultimate two-thirds of her on-the-job coaching in 2016-17. She knowledgeable MSP investigators {that a} sexual relationship between them started whereas she was his trainee, and the sexual exercise would later develop right into a romantic relationship that finally collapsed.
In early 2024, attorneys from the Newaygo County Prosecutor’s Workplace had declined to carry prison costs towards Moryc for that alleged perjury, saying these costs have been “unlikely to meet the burden of proof at trial.” Equally, although, Newaygo County Prosecutor Rachel Robinson was ready to problem felony costs for perjury towards Antcliff for his testimony in the identical listening to.
Newaygo-County-FOIA-Antcliff-1Download
Former U.S. Legal professional for the Jap District of Michigan Barbara McQuade says she’s not shocked that formal prison costs on perjury had not been filed.
“Perjury cases are very challenging because you must prove that the person knowingly made a statement that was false. Misleading statements are not sufficient. Omissions are not sufficient,” McQuade wrote in an e-mail to the 6 Information Investigates Staff. “In addition, the false statement must be material to the testimony. That is, it must have been important to the outcome of the case.”
Division ‘violation’
Regardless of that philosophical consideration and the absence of latest proof from that prison investigation, MSP Skilled Requirements Part investigator Particular Lt. Christopher Tuckey concluded Moryc had dedicated perjury. Moryc was notified of the choice on Dec. 20.
The Skilled Requirements Part is the company’s inner affairs investigation division, which handles each prison investigations towards troopers and alleged coverage violations by troopers.
The discover about her listening to on Jan. 7 claims Tuckey’s investigation “established that you violated department policy, and the law, when you perjured yourself while testifying, under oath, in a divorce proceeding of your (then) boyfriend when called by his attorney as a witness in defense of his alleged infidelity with you in 2017.”
Sexual harassment Antcliff finalDownload
MSP guidelines permit the company to self-discipline troopers for alleged crimes, even when prosecution doesn’t happen.
Transcripts from the divorce continuing on Oct. 9, 2018, reveal that Moryc was by no means requested if she was having a sexual relationship with then-Trooper Antcliff. Attorneys solely requested when the 2 started courting romantically.
Screenshots of the parts of transcripts included within the Michigan State Police prison perjury investigation towards Trooper Treven Antcliff and Megan Moryc. The picture on the best is a portion of Antcliff’s testimony in an Oct. 2018 divorce listening to. The picture on the left is a portion of Moryc’s testimony on that very same day. A particular prosecutor was ready to cost Antcliff for perjury, a felony, however not Moryc in early 2024. Moryc was fired after an inner investigation decided she had dedicated perjury on this testimony as a result of she didn’t disclose that each she and Antcliff have been engaged in sexual intimacy in a “friends with benefits” format.
In her remaining divorce order and opinion, courting Oct. 29, 2018, 20 days after the alleged perjury, Montcalm County Circuit Court docket Decide Suzanne Hoseth wrote, “Again, this Court recognizes that when working closely with another individual, particularly in life-or-death situations where they are called to protect the public and each other, it is not uncommon for the boundaries to blur between a professional relationship and something more.”
She doesn’t conclude in her opinion that both trooper lied on the stand throughout testimony earlier than her. The primary doc beneath was given to six Information by Moyrc, and any handwriting or annotations on it have been made by her.
Judgement of Divorce and OpinionDownload
2018 divorce transcriptsDownload
‘Fabricated interpretation’
Undated images of former Michigan State Police Trooper Trevin Antcliff in uniform. (Courtesy Photograph. WLNS)
Michigan State Police Trooper Trevin S. Antcliff. (Photograph courtesy MSP. WLNS)
Former Michigan State Police Trooper Trevin Antcliff with one of many canines that lived with he and former Trooper Megan Moryc. That is an undated picture. (Courtesy Photograph. WLNS)
Moryc vehemently denies that on the time of the incident she was questioned about throughout testimony, she was in a “romantic” or “dating” relationship with Antcliff.
“He [Antcliff] was like my best friend because I was secluded from all my friends, any support system. I had no support system there, I didn’t,” Moryc informed the 6 Information Investigates Staff.
“He started pursuing more of the physical. Would want to come over after work. Bring alcohol and want to, you know, stay up and drink and have a good time. And then this physical relationship formed.”
Moryc, who was married on the time to Christopher Lee Symonds, says Antcliff’s advances made her uncomfortable. “I never wanted to cheat on my husband. I never,” she says. “I wasn’t comfortable. I told him I wasn’t comfortable.”
MSP investigators mentioned Moryc’s clarification was a “fabricated interpretation of the meaning of ‘relationship,’ as it related to your involvement with your (then) boyfriend, was material in the court testimony and weaponized by you to defend your integrity during administrative investigation.”
As Moryc’s second area coaching officer, Antcliff had the authority and duty to report on her coaching and progress. His assessments may have resulted in her shedding her place with MSP as a result of she was nonetheless on probationary standing. That ultimately led to disciplinary motion pending towards him when Antcliff resigned and walked away together with his pension.
Moryc informed investigators his make-or-break assessments of her efficiency have been “in the back of my mind.”
Wendy Murphy, a professor at New England Regulation in Boston and chief of the Ladies and Youngsters’s Advocacy Mission on the faculty. (Courtesy Photograph. WLNS)
Wendy Murphy, a professor at New England Regulation in Boston and chief of the Ladies and Youngsters’s Advocacy Mission on the faculty, mentioned the scenario described is unlawful below civil rights legal guidelines.
Authorized professional Wendy Murphy explains “quid pro quo” sexual harassment as unlawful. (Textual content message screenshot. WLNS)
“Quid pro quo sexual harassment doesn’t involve a question of wantedness,” she says. “It’s per se improper.”
She mentioned the specter of ending the profession of a subordinate is “inherent in the relationship.”
‘A wolf in the hen house’
For its half, MSP commanders decided Sept. 26, 2023, in an administrative charging doc, that Antcliff had dedicated sexual harassment.
“After review of the attached PSS Investigation, there are several Official Order violations to include Sexual Harassment (Quid Pro Quo), impairing the efficiency of the agency, and the below code of conduct,” the charging doc reveals.
Tuckey’s investigation revealed command employees had considerations about putting Moryc with Antcliff for coaching as a result of he was a “womanizer” and had a “negative reputation with women.” The choice to put her below his supervision was made as a result of she was married on the time.
“We felt that we can’t consider what are essentially rumors and conjecture in how we do our assignments,” Lt. Rob Davis informed investigators about assigning Moryc to Antcliff and considerations about his “womanizing.”
A lot of what Davis informed investigators was summarized within the subsequent investigative report. The quotes come immediately from the audio interview.
The summation of Michigan State Police Lt. Rob Davis’ statements to interviewers in regards to the relationship between then-troopers Trevin Antcliff and Megan Moryc. (Doc obtained by FOIA by Megan Moryc and shared with 6 Information Investigates. Screenshot of an digital doc. WLNS)
Davis went on to share that in one assembly the place placement of Moryc was thought-about, one other command employees member referred to the scenario as “putting a wolf in the hen house or something like that.”
As Moryc accomplished her coaching phases and have become a full street officer, her sexual relationship with Antcliff continued. She says she’s unsure precisely when that relationship shifted from finest pals who had intercourse to a “dating” relationship.
“We never really defined lines,” she mentioned. “I would say the most defining point in this relationship that started out as, you know, we were best friends, was, you know, in late like December 2017 – when I was divorced and we were looking at getting a house together. Before then, we hadn’t really because we were best friends, and I don’t really know how to define it.”
The 2023 investigation of Antcliff concluded he had engaged in a sexual relationship with Moryc whereas he was her area coaching officer.
“During the principal interview with Trooper Antcliff, he admitted engaging in [a] sexual relationship with Trooper Moryc beginning approximately two weeks after she started FTO with him,” the report concludes.
Court docket instances proceed
When Moryc was known as in once more and fired on Feb. 13, union officers filed an arbitration discover on her behalf. On April 14, a listening to was held earlier than an arbitrator. Put up-hearing authorized briefs have been required to be filed with the arbitrator by the top of enterprise on June 3. These information will not be but obtainable.
The arbitrator is predicted to launch a ruling in 30 to 60 days from June 3.
Moryc’s swimsuit in Eaton County Circuit Court docket, alleging she has been discriminated towards by MSP due to her gender and alleging she has been illegally retaliated towards by the company for reporting that discrimination, continues.
A Michigan Division of Civil Rights investigation into these allegations was dismissed by the company after Moryc filed swimsuit, a spokesperson for the MDCR informed the 6 Information Investigates group.
MDCR #643570_RedactedDownload
MSP’s solely response to her claims was Banner’s blanket assertion. The state legal professional normal’s workplace additionally supplied an analogous response about its restricted involvement.
“The Department of Attorney General’s only involvement in the matters you have identified is representing the Michigan State Police in two cases, MSP v MSPTA regarding a prior arbitration with a trooper, and Moryc v MSP, an employment case brought by the same trooper against MSP,” spokesperson Danny Wimmer wrote in response to questions from 6 Information, together with how this case benefitted the taxpayers of the state of Michigan. “As both matters are currently pending in court, we cannot comment at this time. And since our office is serving as legal counsel to MSP any discussions or advice related to those cases are attorney-client privileged communications, and cannot be discussed.”
HELP IS AVAILABLE
Should you or somebody you understand is experiencing home or sexual violence, there may be assist.
If you’re in quick hazard, name 911 or your native regulation enforcement company.
For help associated to home violence, name: 1-800-799-7233
For help associated to sexual assault, name: 800.656.HOPE (4673)
6 Information Digital Producers Shajaka Shelton, Trevor King and 6 Information Digital Content material Supervisor Duncan Phenix contributed to this report.
