TAPED INTERVIEW WITH LORI BATTEY

Holstine:

This is Sergeant Paul Holstine with the Bullhead City Police Department Office of Professional Responsibility and present with me is Emergency Services Dispatcher Lori Battey and you are Lori Battey are you not?

Battey: Holstine:

Yeah. Lori have you reference that Notice of Administrative Investigations thats in front of you have you received that?

Battey: Holstine: Battey: Holstine:

Un huh. Reviewed it and youre aware of its contents? Yes. Okay. And do you understand your specific rights and responsibilities in this investigation?

Battey: Holstine: Battey: Holstine: Battey: Holstine:

I guess what rights are you talking about? Well its, it sounds like you probably dont and this is your first Yeah time in here. interviewed. Um basically there are contained in ah the paragraphs A through E here Ill read em out loud. Youre being compelled by a Bullhead City Police Department Supervisor to truthfully answer questions relating to your duties or conduct. Um actually youre a witness in this case but all these rules do apply to you, youre not, youre not being investigated youre a witness with

Battey: Holstine:

Un huh. ah all the, all of the same things apply youre required to come in here and tell the truth. Ah you can be disciplined to up to and including dismissal for refusal to answer these questions. Questions, tests or examinations will be specifically related to your performance or fitness for duty. Ah any such statements, tests or examination results can be used against you in a disciplinary or administrative or civil proceeding but will not be used against you in a criminal proceeding. Voluntary statements, confession or untruthful statements by you about conduct unrelated to this investigation may be admissible in any subsequent criminal action

any false, deceptive or misleading statements you make may lead to additional discipline up to and including dismissal as well as possible suspension or revocation of your Arizona Post Peace Officer Certification since youre not a Peace Officer that doesnt apply as far as your certification goes. But basically ah it also refers to ah our internal rules and regulations and ya know youre, youre duty to be forthcoming, truthful and give, give the whole truth, not just the part of the truth that doesnt make you look funny. Battey: Holstine: Okay. Um so do you understand your specific rights and responsibilities in this investigation? Battey: Holstine: Yes. And do you have any questions about your specific rights and responsibilities in this investigation? Battey: Holstine: No. Okay then sign right here to acknowledge that and Ill just since its your first time that pretty much covers it but this is compelled testimony is what its referred to where the department ah has the right to, to order you to answer questions. Now what you heard me say in here about it not being used against you in a criminal proceeding that is due to whats called the Garrity Decisions where ah if, if the department orders you to testify about something theyve basically and then they use it against you in a criminal proceeding theyre violating your rights cause you have the same rights as everyone else. And so the Garrity, the Garrity Provisions protect you from that sort of violation. If were gonna order you to tell us the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth under penalty of losing your job then we cannot use it against you criminally and that obviously applies more to somebody thats a subject not a witness but ah thats the basic set of rules. Fun stuff huh? Battey: Holstine: Oh yeah. Good times. Okay first thing that we need to do is fill out this handwriting exemplar. Fill your name out in the end (Inaudible) gonna be of any use but go ahead and do it and pay attention to whats going on here in here because there are very specific instructions for each section like it will say

write do not print and at the bottom of the page its asking you for your signature and a witness so when you get to the bottom of each page prompt me and Ill come sign as a witness. Battey: Holstine: Battey: Holstine: Okay. Take your time this will, this will take a while its several pages thick but So the top needs to printed though huh? Yeah ah each, each section ah specifies ah if it doesnt say otherwise print just print usually itll tell you if it wants cursive writing, itll tell you if it wants capitals or lower case. And Ill be over here waiting for you to ask me something or have me sign one of those. And if I didnt already put it on the record were at the Office of Professional Responsibility its 9:58 a.m. on the 22nd of October, 2009 and were interviewing on OPR 09029. And Lori can you spell your last name for me? Battey: Holstine: Battey: Holstine: Battey: Holstine: Battey: Holstine: Battey: B-A-T-T-E-Y. And Lori is L-O-R-I? Yes. Thanks. Okay Im done with the first one do you need to watch me sign this? No just sign (Inaudible). Paul on the symbols Un huh. do they want me to do it exactly like they have it or how I would do it if I were writing it? Holstine: Battey: Holstine: How, your version of those symbols. Okay. Okay. Okay Im done. (Inaudible) okay. Alright um obviously theres a whole lot of disturbing stuff in this allegation if, if any of its true um so just in general do you wanna address this stuff or do you have any opinions, complaints ah otherwise about this whole subject matter. I mean obviously this is about ah Marion and Tammys ah, ah split up. Battey: Yeah. I dont know how much I should say. Im obviously involved in this so. Holstine: Yeah and the reason why the reason this personal matter ah has come to my office is because it hit the radar screen and basically became

departmental business because it involves three departmental members. Um of course the object of this investigation is to figure out if, if there is any misconduct involved and I can tell you that the department is not eager to just jump into the middle of these things there has to be some sort of line crossed for their for the department to, to go okay now this is our business Battey: Holstine: Un huh. and I can tell you that initially where that line was, was that some of the guys on Marions shift noticed that he was not too productive and the theory was that um the theory was obviously that it was due to him being upset over his personal life but they also another off shoot of that theory was that his, he was getting special treatment from you as a dispatcher and you were like not giving him calls or giving someone else his calls and ah thats how why the supervisors ah initially addressed it to find out if there was any truth to that and ah its not a part of this allegation but it is part of the history Battey: Holstine: Battey: Un huh. of this thing becoming (Inaudible) coming into the work place. The reason its not part of that is because it wasnt true. I never gave I never have given him special treatment ever. Holstine: Battey: Right. We were friends from the very beginning and never have I done that. If you look at all the logs, if you look at the calls that on those days either there wasnt something in his beat or he was on something and it went to the next person. Never once have I done that. Holstine: Yeah and that and before I could get there you, you, you told me your, your take on this but um thats already been looked into by Sergeant Wincentsen and it was already shot down. But thats that was the initial kind of the first harmful event if you will that got this onto the departments radar screen Battey: Holstine: Un huh. because its ya know obviously gossip as far as gossip goes its been on the radar for a lot longer than that, Battey: Oh I know.

Holstine:

But ah thats why this has come in here and also that this ah stuff that Officer Crawford brought up and if you noticed in the allegation its she had a conversation with Tammy and Tammy, Tammy told her a bunch of things and ah ya know she felt that if those things were true theyre misconduct and she felt right

Battey: Holstine: Battey: Holstine: Battey:

Right. if those things are true Exactly. they are misconduct and so thats why I dont have a problem with what Jamie did I think Jamie did what she needed to do.

Holstine: Battey: Holstine: Battey:

Yeah thats why were here. I have a problem with the other party. I figured as much. (Inaudible) and, and I dont have a problem with her to the my problem is if that stuff were true why did she allow him to raise her daughters for all those years if all that were true why as a mother I would take my kid and leave why did this only come to light because he filed for divorce?

Holstine:

I think thats a valid point. Ah and those are some of the things that are being investigated obviously cause theyre in, theyre in there. Anyway so lets see weve addressed ah something that really was a non topic that being the ah allegation of favoritism.

Battey: Holstine:

Okay. Um with you the, the theory I think is all it ever developed into a theory that ya know you were, you were giving him you were cutting him slack.

Battey: Holstine:

Un huh. Anyway so that having been said ah anything else that you wanna get off your chest as far as this whole situation goes I mean

Battey: Holstine:

Un huh. I, I dont Im not gonna make you air out all of your personal business if you got something you wanna address in this forum go ahead otherwise well just go on with my

Battey: Holstine:

You just ask what you wanna ask. Yeah um what is the nature of your relationship currently with Marion?

Battey: Holstine: Battey: Holstine: Battey: Holstine: Battey: Holstine:

We live together. Is it romantic is it platonic? Romantic. Okay I assumed that but I, but I dont want to assume too much. Right. Okay. Yes we are in love with each other. Well good for you. Ah how long has it been a romantic endeavor as a relationship?

Battey:

Oh my goodness (Inaudible) probably a year that we decided that we love each other and were probably gonna go that way.

Holstine:

Okay. Alright um and from what you were just saying it would be safe for me to assume that it started out as, as something less than a romance?

Battey:

Yeah. We were just co-workers and friends we talked on our shift basically to keep each other awake we were on night shift

Holstine: Battey:

Un huh. and we both are into horses we talked about horses, old cars and stuff we just had lunch now and then talk about what we did that week or whatever yeah we were just friends.

Holstine:

Okay without getting into too much graphic ah the year figure as far as it being, being romantic would that you said that a year or better its been?

Battey: Holstine: Battey: Holstine: Battey: Holstine:

With this being October you want exacts good grief (Inaudible). Well I dont really expect exacts if you, if you can give me them. I dont know exact thats the thing I Okay. um but its, its been yeah its been over a year probably Okay. So is it fair to say that back in the end of June of the beginning of July that it would have been a romance as apposed to a platonic relationship?

Battey: Holstine: Battey:

Of this year? Yeah this past year. Oh yeah.

Holstine:

Um and again I, I feel really dumb asking these questions but um when I think about a romantic or a romance and being in love I usually make the assumption that its also a physical relationship am I wrong?

Battey: Holstine:

Nope. Okay. And, and thats all I need to know about that. Um so thats ah I mean were pretty much getting right down to the end of this as far as your believed value as a witness. I mean yeah its not as far as all these allegations go the only thing theres only one part in here that you have a ah, ah relationship to as a witness to my knowledge. Um and I want to ask you to validate a couple of things because these were given to me and when they were given to me they were believed to be evidence of a romance between you and Marion and Im, I dont know if you perceived this from the notice or my questioning but the existence of a romance between you and Marion is not considered misconduct you understand that?

Battey: Holstine:

Okay. Thats not what this investigations about. Thats why theres nothing in here that says its believed that they were in love thats, that wouldnt be that wouldnt be misconduct in the, by the department. Whats your, whats your e-mail address?

Battey: Holstine: Battey: Holstine:

Medic106_99@(Inaudible). And do know what Marions is? Um the one he has now is PHUNAM_223. Okay. And the reason Im asking you that is to validate an e-mail I was given and if youd read that real quick. Is, is that my, my opinion is that, that e-mail indicates that you guys were romancing at that period of time is that accurate?

Battey: Holstine:

Yeah within the last year yeah thats, that was Christmas time. Okay. Alright so that, that is an e-mail that you eventually received from Marion

Battey: Holstine: Battey:

Un huh. correct? Okay. Yeah he was trying to set up a page and

Holstine:

Okay. That pretty much just gets us down to a couple of things. I want you to look at this card and tell me if that is

Battey: Holstine: Battey:

Oh that from you to Marion? Its when it first started yeah we had been friends for a year that is but we had only been physical I well at this point its been physical its been over a year now.

Holstine: Battey: Holstine:

Okay thats all I wanna know. I love him. And, and that is not an issue thats not, thats not considered like I said this is sticky stuff.

Battey: Holstine: Battey: Holstine:

Yeah. I mean Im embarrassed asking half these questions. Im embarrassed that you even have them. But ah I think its a fairly well done ah romance card. Lets see also another piece of information that I got was that do you have a niece in school here locally?

Battey: Holstine:

Yes I do. And it, its been submitted to me that ah maybe back around the first of the year just after the holidays she something came outta her mouth at school ah to Jamie Crawford

Battey: Holstine: Battey: Holstine: Battey: Holstine: Battey: Holstine: Battey: Holstine: Battey:

Un huh. is Jamie Crawford her School Resource Officer? Un huh. And whats this nieces name? Her name is Jordan Jamison. Okay and Jamie basically said that Jordan referred to your boyfriend Yeah. and knew him as a police officer named Marion that I can tell you exactly what happened with that. Ah go ahead. Again it was within the last year it was the boom box parade this past year

Holstine:

Un huh.

Battey:

he came down and helped make sure that my saddle was on tight and stuff for the parade

Holstine: Battey:

Un huh. and when he left he gave me a kiss on the cheek goodbye and she as a child who saw that I she said did he just kiss you on the cheek and I said yeah and I said thats my boyfriend.

Holstine: Battey: Holstine: Battey:

Again not, not ah this is not you being investigated for Un huh anything. but I hate it that this is making him look bad when we were just ya know he was trying to get out he was trying to do it without losing his son and now its gonna backfire on him.

Holstine:

I understand that ah theres a huge swirl of icky subjects and personal business that needs to be left personal and

Battey: Holstine:

And thats what we were trying to do. departmental business that has to be handled with the utmost of ah delicacys so that we dont get too far into your business where its not our business to do it and on that note I think were about done here as far as what I needed to ask you cause all I needed to know is how long has the how long has the relationship as far as a romance been in existence and youre saying over a year.

Battey: Holstine:

Right its been over a year. And when we talk about romance were talking about an adult physical relationship without using any bad words. And ah that these this e-mail and this card these all are actually things that were exchanged between you and Marion and that your nieces statements were accurate and thats it as far as, as far as I know. Anything that I need to get into with you I think you pretty well addressed all the rest of this ah business up front on your own but in relation to the remainder of the allegations or all of the allegations in there I want you to read through those and tell me if you have any knowledge whether it be direct, hearsay, rumor or otherwise about any of those subjects.

Battey:

Her and her freaking porn. She was just obsessed with this porn crap. And if I believed this stupid allegation about his step-daughter I would

never allow him around my two daughters. He has been nothing but totally wonderful to them. Holstine: Battey: How old are your daughters anyway? Um actually ones my daughter and ones my granddaughter but I raised them and ones eight and ones nine. Hes never even anything except fight back hes just Holstine: Battey: Holstine: Well those are allegations (Inaudible). I know but, but it has to do with his character and this is killing me. Yes yeah obviously is those if any of those or any group of those is true its bad news I mean its bad stuff. Battey: Weve never touched a child never he dedicates his life to protecting them. As far as this thing about Sergeant Best what was told to me was that Sergeant Best said hey by the way just so you know theres rumors about you and a certain dispatcher and what I think Marion said was well you know how rumors are and that, they left it at that. He didnt lie he left it so that we couldnt bring this stuff to work we didnt want this stuff at work and we have never done anything Holstine: So well ya know what and that brings up a good category for discussion obviously you guys have talked about this you talked Battey: Holstine: Yeah for like a year. you and Marion what sort of ah youve had the conversation about lets try our best to keep this from blowing up at work Battey: Holstine: Battey: Holstine: Battey: Yeah. yes? Yes I mean I careers are everything to both of us Un huh. we fell in love do we like how this happened no absolutely not Ive never done anything like this I dont know whether he has or not all I know is hes good to me. Holstine: Battey: Un huh. And we were in love he wanted to leave, he was miserable thats how some of our friendship got started we talked cause he was miserable we had things in common neither one of us really wanted to go that way but it

did. He says I cant lose my son so he tried to make it work as long as he could cause he knew that if he tried to leave she would do something. Holstine: Battey: What sort of thing did he I mean what does he think shes capable of? Shes done way more than he thought she was capable of. He just thought she would try to get me fired. But shes already proven way beyond that. Holstine: Have a did you guys ever go as far as to like researching policy or, or trying to figure out just where bright lines lie that ya know stay outta the mess? Battey: No I didnt even think about it I mean everything that whenever we saw each other it was at my home it was ya know did he ever come up and eat he came up and ate with everyone of the guys on his shift we always made sure he was only with the guys on his shift ya know everybody came up and ate that was the only time I ever saw him during work hours to be sure that nobody could ever say we did anything wrong. Holstine: Right. Well thats again thats what this investigation is designed to determine. Ya know 99% of the investigating I do determines that nothing was done wrong. But we gotta go down this road now so. Battey: Even the girls up there could tell you he didnt even sit at my desk he would sit across the room and we talked about again horses, cars, motorcycles whatever everyone participated in the conversations but its never anything personal said. Holstine: Right and, and theres no theres no avenue of investigation that, that, that alleges or indicates that there was anything improper going on up there other than, other than what I told you about at first this theory Battey: Holstine: Yeah. that came forth. Ya know the it looks like he was certainly depressed and not being a ball of fire on the street but beyond that theres no indication of Battey: He was extremely depressed if you look at him now hes a whole different person. Hes loves coming to work, he loves, he loves his job and his career. Tammy knows that he has two big misses his career and his son and shes going after both of em. Holstine: Well in that respect this is a typical ugly divorce.

Battey: Holstine:

Yeah. Anyway ah one of things that ah as far as the allegation that Marion has refused to pay any bills and this was something that Jamie Crawford said that Tammy told her are you aware of any of his financial

Battey: Holstine: Battey:

I know what thats about. dealings or what thats about? His attorney told him to stop paying the house payment that shes living in and to stop paying her truck payment he said if she wants to live in the house and she wants to keep the truck she has to take care of those. The house they have in Kingman hes still paying on.

Holstine: Battey:

Okay. Um and I think theres another like generic bill loan somewhere that he, he makes a payment on.

Holstine: Battey: Holstine: Battey:

Okay. But Thats, thats really not ah the attorney told him if she wants the car or the truck and she wants the house she needs to pay em so he stopped at the advice of his attorney.

Holstine: Battey: Holstine: Battey:

And thats Fred Kearns correct? Un huh. Okay. Um He has paid all of Brandons school lunches, we bought all of Brandons uniforms for school we pay all of his daycare.

Holstine: Battey:

Have you had any confrontations with Tammy? Nu huh she doesnt speak to me and I try to keep it very professional if I have to give her a call I give her a call she usually hangs up on me but I dont see again Im trying to keep this as professional as we can if it I, Im doing the best I can with it. I she ya know I havent even really spoke to her other than to give her a call or shell call up and shell say clear my call and I said okay and shell hang up but

Holstine: Battey: Holstine:

Alright. she hasnt approached me. (Inaudible) so weve covered Im just talking out loud now so I make sure Ive gone everywhere I need to go. Weve covered these the documents

that youve authenticated which pretty much makes your handwriting exemplar (Inaudible). Um did Marion ever mention to you ah this civil standby as its called where ah Reid McNally went down to the house as they were splitting up or he was down there getting things or he was leaving or something? Battey: Holstine: Battey: Un huh. Are you aware of anything that happened on that? Other than that she was very angry at him for filing and she was trying to get Reid to look at stuff on the computer. Holstine: Okay. Im just reading through a couple of things here and seeing if I have any other questions to get to but I dont theres (Inaudible) cover you said you have, you have some knowledge of that incident with Reid McNally and, and Marion and Tammy down at their old house um weve talked about your niece (Inaudible) you have actually already addressed ah Marion and his girlfriend which would be you meeting during work hours. Battey: Holstine: Yeah thats crap. Um okay well let me just clarify this you guys had met during work hours to do to have lunch? Battey: Holstine: Battey: Holstine: Battey: Holstine: Well he comes up and eats in dispatch Right. its not just us its Right. everybody. Right um but what I, what Im trying to get at here is, is there any reason why you couldnt meet on duty for lunch? Battey: Holstine: In a public setting no. In any setting if its for lunch on duty and youre and youre given time for lunch. Battey: Holstine: Battey: Holstine: Battey: No I guess not. Im not saying it doesnt apply to leaving the building Right. at dispatch. Well yeah.

Holstine:

But its more from an officers standpoint from a departmental standpoint is there some reason why if you were romantically involved with Marion Morgan that hes band from the building?

Battey:

I dont feel so no. Is it any different than Reid going home for lunch to with his wife its the same thing to me.

Holstine:

Right. Okay. Have you ever seen Marion viewing or in possession of child porn?

Battey:

No it is that whole thing is because he looked at an adult x-rated video, shes very against that. She burned some that he had when they met and he had like a classic playboy collection that somebody had given him that was like in plastic sleeves and stuff

Holstine: Battey:

Un huh. that was worth money she burnt those youre not allowed to have any of that stuff. So because she found out that he looked at she looked through the history and saw he viewed a video it was not child it was an adult and he has since shown me this is what shes talking about and its not but shes obsessed with that whole concept. Thats what the whole child custody is based on.

Holstine:

Okay well I think weve pretty much exhausted this topic I cant think of anything else to ask you, you got anything to ask me?

Battey: Holstine:

No. Then well end this interview at 10:38 a.m.

Transcribed and submitted to the best of my ability:

Carol A. Escoffier