Lawsuit says Granite City cop was disciplined after telling feds that chief’s brother made pot oil

A Granite City police officer sued the city and the department to stop retaliatory discipline imposed on him after he reported to the FBI that chief’s father and brother were producing marijuana, the suit alleges.

Granite City Police Lt. Jonathan Blaylock filed the suit on March 13.

Neither Blaylock nor his attorney, John Brubaker, would comment, stating the suit was pending.

Chief Rich Miller said, “My interest is in running the police department, not in personal squabbles.”

In a press release issued by city attorney Brian Konzen, the city says the grievances against Blaylock were raised on Feb. 9, and continue to be processed under his union contract.

“The Granite City Police Department believes the actions complained of in the pending grievance, subsequently referenced in the filed complaint, to be performance improvement training, not discipline,” Konzen wrote. “The Granite City Police Department denies any retaliation. The Granite City Police Department denies the grievant/complaining officer suffered any loss of pay or wages.”

The suit stated that Officer Eugene J. Wilkinson II was being interviewed on an unrelated case on Jan. 19 when he told detectives that Darren Miller, the chief’s brother, was making cannabis oil, and his top customer was the wife of a captain.

Wilkinson, who was later charged with official misconduct for allegedly giving information to “a person not legally authorized to have such data,” went on to tell investigators that he forwarded information in his phone to his boss, Lieutenant Blaylock.

Blaylock was also told that Gary Miller, who is the father of Darren Miller and Chief Rich Miller, was also involved in the production of the marijuana oil, according to the suit.

Blaylock relayed the allegations to the FBI, according to his suit.

On Jan. 24, Blaylock told another Granite City lieutenant that he was taking a sick day on Jan. 25. When Blaylock returned to work, his captain told him that there was some doubt as to whether he was sick, and Blaylock would need to produce a doctor’s letter to be returned to duty.

“The GCPD policy manual requires doctor’s notes only for absences greater than two days and upon information and belief, no other GCPD employee has been required to supply a doctor’s note for a one-day absence,” the suit states.

On Feb. 4, a prisoner was brought into the police department. The prisoner, who was under the care of Chestnut Mental Health Services, had his medications brought to the police station. Blaylock forgot to put the medication in the property locker.

Later that week, Blaylock received a memo asking why he had failed to secure the medication and why he had left his shift early on Feb. 5.

In the suit, Blaylock stated that medications were often left at the front desk, and he had put himself down for comp time on Feb. 5.

Blaylock was put on desk duty and a disciplinary note was placed in his employment file for the medication mistake and the comp time issue.

“Upon information and belief, no other GCPD employee has ever been put on a performance improvement plan for any reason, including serious employee misconduct,” the suit states.

Blaylock’s suit asks that the court order Granite City Police Department to remove records of retaliatory negative discipline from his employee file, give him back-pay, and not issue any further retaliation against Blaylock. The suit also seeks a judment of at least $50,000 and costs and fees.

“All disciplinary actions taken against Blaylock since Jan. 19, when it was revealed he reported cannabis oil production to the FBI, were pretextural acts taken to create a materially adverse working environment in retaliation for Blaylock’s whistle-blowing,” the suit states.

This story was originally published April 8, 2017 at 2:33 PM with the headline "Lawsuit says Granite City cop was disciplined after telling feds that chief’s brother made pot oil."