A 20-year-veteran Baltimore City police officer has requested a disciplinary hearing to prove his innocence on departmental charges he showed nude pictures of a women at Southern District headquarters in November 2006 while on duty.
Sgt. Michael Wingler, 44, claims he was on vacation in the Dominican Republic at the time the offenses were alleged. Internal police records obtained by The Examiner indicate Wingler was not working at the time of the offenses reportedly took place.
Wingler said the charges are trumped up in retaliation for intervening in a disruptive affair between fellow officers in his unit.
“They said I could lose my pension if I don’t file for retirement now,” he said. “But the truth is I want a trial board hearing. I know it sounds crazy, but I don’t want to walk away after being charged with something I didn’t do.”
Departmental doctors classified him mentally disabled during a routine medical exam, and recommended he be fired or retire by Aug. 1.
“I went in for checkup, the doctor shook my hand and said good luck on your retirement, and then my lieutenant called me and said, ‘Mike, what happened? They classified you as unfit.’
“How I’m supposed to get a job with that following me around?” he asked.
Police officials declined comment.
He said his problems with the department began when a fellow sergeant’s affair with a female officer in his unit turned disruptive. Memorandums from district commanders to police that The Examiner obtained also indicated the tryst interfered with operations. After Wingler complained about the sergeant to his superiors, he was suspended and faced misconduct charges in connection with allegedly showing nude pictures to fellow officers.
He denies showing nude pictures to fellow officers.
Four days after he was released from the hospital after undergoing triple bypass surgery, he was served with papers that advised him to retire or be fired.
Wingler is the second policeman to come forward claiming he was charged internally for an offense that occurred while he was on vacation. Sgt. Robert Smith said he was falsely accused of a sex offense in February after he refused to drop a defamation lawsuit against the department — charges that were subsequently dropped by the department.
