8 years after his firing, school police officer wants job back

A union that represents Clark County school police is asking a court to toss an arbitration ruling and reinstate with full back pay an officer who was fired eight years ago.

The Police Officers Association of the Clark County School District filed the motion on behalf of former officer Juan Fernandez last week in Clark County District Court.

The union wants an August 2015 decision where an arbitrator ruled Fernandez couldn’t be reinstated in his job with back pay to be vacated. Arbitration is a process where a neutral party makes a decision in order to resolve a dispute.

The union alleges Fernandez’s due process rights and terms of a collective bargaining agreement between the union and school district were violated.

The union and its attorney couldn’t be reached for comment by deadline Wednesday. The school district said it doesn’t comment on pending litigation.

Fernandez was a school district police officer from 2008 until 2013. He was unaware when the school district launched an internal investigation in May 2012 after his ex-girlfriend, a school vice principal with whom he had an intimate relationship with while he was married, filed a “concern report,” according to the motion.

Fernandez’s ex-girlfriend made a few allegations, including that he provided four AR-15 rifles to convicted felons, according to the motion, but the union says none of the allegations was substantiated.

Fernandez was suspended without pay in January 2013, when he was first notified about the investigation, according to the motion.

“Although this investigation — based almost entirely on hearsay and unsubstantiated claims of alleged criminal activities proffered by Officer Fernandez’s former lover — did not result in any arrest or prosecution of Officer Fernandez, the investigation was the direct cause of his termination from the CCSD,” according to the motion.

A Metropolitan Police Department criminal investigation concluded Fernandez was the owner of the four “AR-15 style weapons” but acknowledged he borrowed money from an ex-felon who’s not allowed to have firearms in order to buy them, according to court documents.

A police department detective concluded Fernandez “was not truthful” during the investigation, but there wasn’t probable cause to arrest him, the documents indicate.

The school district said it had an obligation to investigate the complaint and claimed he lied to Metro detectives during the investigation, the documents indicate. 

Online court records show a hearing on the motion is scheduled for April 28.

Contact Julie Wootton-Greener at jgreener@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2921. Follow @julieswootton on Twitter.