A Clark County School District cop caught masturbating at a middle school gets promoted while under investigation.
That's what Contact 13 Chief Investigator Darcy Spears uncovered in a case many say paints a picture of a department where police protect their own.
"The school district expects its employees to make the right decision on a daily basis. And every day. That's the expectation that's been given down by the superintendent, department heads and everyone else," explained CCSD Sgt. Mitch Maciszak.
School police took swift action in December when they arrested a custodian caught masturbating into a teacher's belongings in a Dondero Elementary school classroom.
Michael Timothy Skelton pleaded guilty and will serve two years in prison.
But Contact 13 discovered the cop who headed up the investigation had a dark secret of his own.
"How would it look it if got out that he was involved in the same type of activity that he was investigating?" CCSD Police Officer Mike Thomas asked during a March, 2012 Internal Affairs investigation. Contact 13 obtained the audio recording of that interview.
Sergeant Mitch Maciszak was being investigated for something that happened years before, when he was a detective working Adult Education at Garside Middle School.
A fellow officer opened the door to the police office on the Garside campus.
He saw then-detective Maciszak jump back, bend over to cover himself and run into the back office.
He says Maciszak's belt was lying on the desk and there was Asian pornography on the computer screen--circumstances similar to those Maciszak investigated in the custodian's case.
Darcy Spears: Is it fair for you, with a background like that, to be investigating a case like this? Do you see a possible conflict of interest?
Sgt. Mitch Maciszak: There is no conflict of interest.
Maciszak is no stranger to allegations of sex acts on the job. What is strange for him is having to answer publicly for his actions.
Darcy Spears: This was a case that our research tells us involved you personally, and an Internal Affairs investigation and masturbation at Garside and pornography. What can you tell us about the information that we've been given?
Sgt. Maciszak: You're speaking of a personnel issue and I'm not comfortable speaking with that.
Other officers were not comfortable speaking out about Maciszak's behavior until sources say it became impossible to ignore. They came to Officer Mike Thomas, who heads the police union's grievance committee.
"Taken as a whole, I think there's a pattern that did give me some concern," Thomas told Internal Affairs.
Specifically, sex on the job at school police headquarters. Investigators were told Maciszak was getting oral sex from another department employee in his assigned school district vehicle.
"And on at least one occasion, he allegedly took her into his work office and had sex with her," the Internal Affairs investigator repeats during the interview with Thomas.
Thomas added, "I think if you have impulses that you can't keep in check and you bring them into the workplace, then I think that's an issue."
The other issue Internal Affairs investigated is something Officer Thomas witnessed first hand on December 18, 2010 at the Police Officers Association Christmas party, which was attended by about 125 department employees and their guests.
IA investigator: And that you saw Det. Maciszak, who you felt was obviously intoxicated, taking his camera phone, sticking it up women's skirts and taking pictures up their skirts?
Mike Thomas: Yes.
Multiple people who were at the party tell Contact 13 they saw it too.
Officer Thomas told investigators, "To say he was out of control was an understatement."
The behavior described is a clear violation of the School Police code of conduct. Sanctions are supposed to get stricter with each additional offense.
According to an internal memo Contact 13 obtained, the complaints against Maciszak were "fully investigated and the appropriate administrative action" was taken.
We don't know what that action was, but we do know Maciszak was promoted to sergeant during the investigation and even acts as a department spokesman, including in the case of custodian Michael Skelton.
When we asked him about Skelton, he said, "This employee chose, consciously, to do the wrong thing and make the wrong decision. Therefore, he has to face the consequences that have been dealt to him."
CCSD Police Captain Ken Young was supervising the interview we did with Sgt. Maciszak. When we tried to ask more questions, Captain Young abruptly ended the interview.
District officials refused to go on camera saying this is a personnel matter. But they confirmed action was taken after an administrative investigation.
Just this afternoon, a letter went out to the families of Garside Junior High. But it's strangely vague and likely leaves parents with more questions than answers.
It says, "... the school was recently in the news regarding accusations concerning a person assigned to the school in 2006. We want you to know this report does not involve any of the staff or students currently at our school."
The letter doesn't name Sgt. Mitch Maciszak, and it doesn't acknowledge that he's a current CCSD cop with access to every school district campus.
