The Vermont Supreme Court has upheld a decision to terminate a state police sergeant for misconduct, including sexually harassing female troopers.
David Roos, who started his career with the Vermont State Police in 2007, had appealed a Vermont Labor Relations Board ruling that affirmed his firing from the state Department of Public Safety in May 2022.
Roos, in his appeal of the board’s decision, contested his termination by the state for sexual harassment, unprofessional conduct and dishonesty during an internal investigation.
A three-justice panel of the five-member Vermont Supreme Court heard Roos’ appeal. In a decision late last month, Chief Justice Paul Reiber and Justices Karen Carroll and William Cohen upheld the Labor Relations Board ruling terminating Roos.
The justices wrote in their six-page ruling that, “the Board’s findings regarding (Roos’) misconduct were supported by the evidence, and the Board properly assessed the relevant factors regarding the State’s decision to terminate (Roos) for his misconduct.”
According to a summary of the case outlined in the high court’s decision, Roos, throughout his time working for state police, received “positive” performance evaluations.
However, he had been disciplined for misconduct twice for failing to enter information about a missing teenage girl into the Amber Alert system and also failing to log into evidence a seized firearm, which had gone missing and later found in his garage, according to the court’s decision.
It was later conduct that took place while he worked as a sergeant at the St. Johnsbury barracks that led to his termination, the decision stated. A coworker filed a complaint with the Vermont State Police Office of Internal Affairs in December 2021 stating that Roos “had potentially sexually harassed three female troopers under his charge,” the justices wrote.
Following an investigation and administrative hearing, according to the court’s decision, Roos was terminated in May 2022 by the Department of Public Safety.
The department found that Roos had engaged in sexual harassment against the three female troopers, discriminated against one of them based on national origin, engaged in conduct unbecoming a state police officer, and didn’t answer questions fully and truthfully during the internal affairs investigation, the justices wrote.
Roos appealed to the Labor Relations Board, which held hearings over several days.
“(Roos) testified and generally denied any wrongdoing,” the justices wrote. “He did not remember some of the instances, and as to other alleged circumstances he explained that no one complained at the time and that he did not intend to make anyone uncomfortable.”
The board found that the state proved by a preponderance of the evidence that Roos engaged in sexual harassment, was not truthful in the investigation, and engaged in conduct unbecoming a police officer, according to the court’s decision.
In one instance, the justices wrote, the board found that Roos sexually harassed one female trooper by asking her whether she lost her virginity to another trooper and at what age.
Also, according to the court’s decision, the board found that Roos sexually harassed another female trooper “by alluding to her body or body shape when commenting on her ripped pants and asking whether she had a sister he could date.”
The board found that the state did not meet its burden of proving that Roos discriminated based on national origin, the court’s decision stated.
“Ultimately,” according to the court’s decision, “the Board concluded that grievant’s actions constituted just cause for dismissal.”
Attorney Karen W. Stuntz, who represents Roos and argued his case before the Vermont Supreme Court last month, did not return phone calls Thursday and Friday seeking comment.
Adam Silverman, a state police spokesperson, said this week that the law enforcement agency had no comment on the court’s ruling.
Read the story on VTDigger here: Vermont’s top court upholds firing of state police sergeant for misconduct, sexual harassment.