<body><div>BALLWIN — New details of misconduct allegations against an ousted Ballwin police chief have surfaced in court, including sexually explicit behavior in public, using his position to solicit favors for his whiskey club, and “very likely” driving his city car while drunk.The drinking of Douglas Schaeffler, who was fired in December 2023, prompted one officer to follow him to make sure he got home safely. A lieutenant received complaints from a restaurant worker who said Schaeffler “hooked up” with a date in his car outside a West County bar. And officers said he made inappropriate comments about photos of women, including job applicants and new hires.The allegations are detailed in an investigation conducted by an outside attorney Ballwin hired after multiple officers filed complaints against Schaeffler last September. His actions violated employment laws, opened the city up to lawsuits and “obviously reflected poorly on the department,” the report states.Schaeffler’s attorney, Mark Sowers, declined to comment Tuesday. Schaeffler has criticized the investigation and report, saying he was denied due process to defend himself against the allegations.Ballwin spokeswoman Megan Freeman said the city followed Missouri law in investigating and terminating Schaeffler.“We did our due diligence in investigating the claims brought to us,” Freeman said.Schaeffler was put on administrative leave in October and two months later was fired by the Ballwin Board of Aldermen in a closed-door meeting. Then, in January, he sued Ballwin and alleged that elected officials conspired to illegally oust him in a “sham hearing” in retaliation for asking another police department to investigate Ballwin Mayor Tim Pogue and the former city administrator.Some parts of the outside investigation into Schaeffler, done by employment attorney Erin Williams, have already come to light. But her report, recently filed in Schaeffler’s own lawsuit against Ballwin, reveals what the Board of Aldermen had in hand in December when it unanimously fired the chief.After Schaeffler filed his lawsuit in January, Pogue said an outside investigator found that the former chief had violated several department rules, saying specifically that Schaeffler purchased alcohol while in uniform, he misused an internal database system, had harassed and discriminated against employees, and was believed to have driven while intoxicated.And an internal report obtained in June by the Post-Dispatch claimed Schaeffler had improperly run more than 1,000 names through REJIS, a database that contains arrest and crime records, over the previous four years. The REJIS system is intended to be used only for work-related searches for police and government officials in St. Louis and St. Louis, St. Charles, Jefferson and Franklin counties.St. Louis Circuit Attorney Gabe Gore’s office has said they are reviewing a report on Schaeffler’s searches. And an ongoing class action lawsuit against Ballwin and Schaeffler seeks compensation for the hundreds of residents whose privacy rights may have been violated.The report by Williams said the evidence “substantiated” allegations that Schaeffler also:<ul><li>“Very likely” operated his city vehicle while intoxicated, including driving home from a “Ballwin Days” city-hosted festival.</li><li>Used police email letterhead to ask for personal favors, including donations to his whiskey club and rides to the airport.</li><li>Made statements in violation of the anti-harassment and discrimination policy, and expressed an intent to fire officers who filed complaints.</li></ul>The report also identified Marc Cox, a radio host and conservative activist, as a friend that Schaeffler searched on REJIS in 2020 after Cox tried to buy a gun at a Ballwin store but was denied because of a background check.In an interview Tuesday, Cox said he asked Schaeffler, whom he had known for years, to look into possible identity fraud because the store was in Ballwin and he’d bought guns before with no issue. Cox later learned the search mistakenly flagged convictions against a man with his same name. Schaeffler, he said, was just trying to help.“There’s really nothing nefarious on the chief’s part,” Cox said.In all, six sergeants, three lieutenants and the assistant chief of police filed complaints against Schaeffler last September.The report found Schaeffler did not commit outright acts of discrimination against two lieutenants who complained Schaeffler discriminated against them because of their age. One of the lieutenants is John Bergfeld, whom the city hired as chief in June.Williams, the attorney, said she interviewed all the officers who filed complaints and then in late November interviewed Schaeffler, with his then-lawyer present. She also reviewed documents, including some of the chief’s emails and records of his REJIS searches.Williams said Schaeffler did not have any credible explanation for why he made several searches, including on himself, several family members, Ballwin’s mayor, city officials and several others.The officers’ complaint alleged Schaeffler engaged in conduct “unbecoming of an officer,” including a March 2023 incident in which a restaurant employee said Schaeffler and a woman “hooked up” in the chief’s car in the parking lot.The employee told a Ballwin lieutenant that Schaeffler had earlier sat in the bar with the woman and had a very graphic discussion about sex, offending a waiter who asked to be reassigned.The lieutenant showed Williams mobile phone texts he exchanged with the restaurant employee.When Williams asked Schaeffler about the incident, the chief asked if she “had seen any texts, as if to determine how much I might know before giving me any information.” Schaeffler admitted to kissing the woman in the car in the parking lot.Williams, in her report, said she believed Schaeffler’s behavior “obviously reflected poorly on the department” and “violated the good conduct policy.”No women submitted complaints against Schaeffler. But male officers said Schaeffler’s conduct was “concerning” and made them feel uncomfortable.Schaeffler searched for women job applicants on social media and showed photos of them, and new hires, to other police officers and made inappropriate comments about “how hot” the women were, Williams said.On one occasion he told an officer not to drive away from a store because he was waiting to “see the ass of this girl coming out,” the report said.Schaeffler told Williams he “probably” referred to women as “hot” in front of other employees but said he “can’t recall” if he has made references to women’s bodies. Williams said she found the response “to be evasive and not credible.”Schaeffler also yelled and cursed at residents, recording a phone call he had with one person who was making a complaint against a lieutenant. Schaeffler told the resident, “Shut your mouth. ... You don’t get to call here.” Schaeffler then sent the recording to someone outside of Ballwin government.The chief also admitted to Williams that he yelled at a couple who visited the department to complain, “Get the (expletive) out of my building.”Schaeffler also “inappropriately” used his email or police letterhead to solicit personal benefits from vendors or employees.In June 2023, the chief used his police email to ask business contacts at a police uniform store for donations to his River City Whisky Society for an exclusive event. In 2021 and 2022, Schaeffler sent letters to whiskey distilleries on police letterhead and sent them police memorabilia, like challenge coins and coffee cups.And Schaeffler sent department-wide emails with personal requests, including asking officers for rides to and from the airport.Schaeffler, in his interview with Williams, said he would fire all the lieutenants and Bergfeld for complaining about him because they were “bound together to trash the department and make up accusations.”Schaeffler said he would bring in three other “men who I trust and who would be happy to do it” to replace them.Williams said the statements showed a “clear intent” to retaliate against employees for reporting concerns, which would violate employment laws.</div></body>

Mountain View, CA

NewsBreak

Ballwin’s fired police chief drove drunk, ‘hooked up’ in public, solicited favors, report says

BALLWIN — New details of misconduct allegations against an ousted Ballwin police chief have surfaced in court, including sexually explicit behavior in public, using his position to solicit favors for his whiskey club, and “very likely” driving his city car while drunk. The drinking of Douglas Schaeffler,...