Trooper had sex in patrol car

He was fired in 2003, but a judge reinstates him -- she says others who had sex at work kept their jobs.

A judge ruled that the Highway Patrol unfairly fired a state trooper for having extramarital sex with a woman in his car and at a district station because the patrol let troopers who did the same or worse remain on the force.

Monty Steven Poarch, a trooper for 18 years who was based in Alexander County, was fired in 2003. But evidence in the case showed that another trooper who also had an affair with the woman was suspended without pay for five days. That trooper had left his loaded gun in her car while having sex, where young children later found it, and also had affairs with two other women.

Another trooper was demoted after having sex with his ex-wife while on duty, and making more than 20 threatening phone calls to her. A third trooper was demoted and transferred for having an affair with a subordinate's wife while on duty.

Administrative Law Judge Melissa Owens Lassiter's decision this week, which calls for Poarch to be reinstated with back pay, could have far-reaching ramifications. Another administrative law judge and a Wake Superior Court judge both ruled in the case that fired state employees seeking their jobs back can explore whether agencies are consistent in applying discipline.

"The preponderance of the evidence at hearing ... established that during the past nine years, [the Highway Patrol] imposed lesser sanctions than dismissal on other Troopers who had engaged in sex on and off duty, when dismissal was reasonably warranted," Lassiter wrote.

The decision is another setback for the patrol. Recent cases of trooper misconduct include allegations that a sergeant abused a police dog during a training session in Raleigh; a trooper on patrol in Orange County abducted two Hispanic women and made sexual advances; and another trooper patrolling Wake County during the graveyard shift predominantly targeted young women. All three troopers have been dismissed in recent weeks, and two are the subjects of criminal investigations.

At the same time, the patrol is taking heat from troopers claiming preferential treatment involving a minor fender-bender by an internal affairs captain. A subordinate was allowed to investigate the accident, and he produced a report showing no fault by the captain. After The News & Observer asked questions about the investigation, patrol officials changed the report last week to show the captain was partially responsible for the wreck.

Efforts to reach Fletcher Clay, the Highway Patrol's commander, were unsuccessful. None of the cases cited by the judge took place during Clay's tenure. His predecessor, Richard Holden, who ran the patrol from 1999 to 2004, handled several of the cases. Efforts to reach him also failed.

Patrol spokesman Lt. Everett Clendenin said the patrol will appeal Lassiter's decision.

"It's absolutely wrong for any trooper or any state employee who is doing the state's business to be involved in this type of activity," Clendenin said. "It's wrong, and we're not going to tolerate it."

Lassiter, in her decision, said the patrol had a legitimate reason to dismiss Poarch, but the patrol didn't use it: Patrol policy prohibits troopers from having sex while in uniform. The patrol did not cite him for that.

Efforts to reach Poarch, now a lieutenant in Caldwell County's sheriff's department, failed. His attorney, Michael McGuinness of Elizabethtown, said Poarch is grateful for the decision and wants his job back.

"He absolutely wants to return to the Highway Patrol," McGuinness said. "It's in his blood."

Accounts of the affair

Court records indicate Poarch had a good record as a trooper until the woman he had the affair with, Donna Lynne Kirby, complained to the patrol. Efforts to reach Kirby failed.