MSP lieutenant must be reinstated after firing over Flint promotions scandal, official orders

(This story was updated to add new information.)

LANSING — A civil service hearing officer has reversed the firing of a Michigan State Police lieutenant implicated in a promotion exam cheating scandal at the Flint post and ordered the officer reinstated with back pay and benefits.

Lt. Thomas Dhooge was one of seven MSP officers disciplined earlier this year after officials learned the Flint post commander, 1st Lt. Yvonne Brantley, had been giving favored candidates for promotion advance copies of the exam questions. Dhooge received exam questions in advance of his own promotions exam, though he said he never used them to prepare, and was also accused of knowing that others had cheated.

But in a strongly worded decision, Michigan Department of Civil Service Hearing Officer Matthew Wyman said it appeared the MSP tried to punish Dhooge for Brantley's actions. In ruling on a grievance Dhooge filed objecting to his dismissal, Wyman cited a lack of specifics in the MSP's allegations against Dhooge, plus a lack of evidence.

"It should be obvious that the record presented in this case falls well short of establishing that Dhooge had any real culpability for Brantley’s scheme, or that his actions — whatever they were or may have been — rose to the level of misconduct," Wyman wrote in a grievance appeal decision, dated Oct. 25.

"The department’s theories of violations relied on hearsay sources or immaterial discrepancies and ignored or discounted contradictory evidence."

Shanon Banner, a spokeswoman for the MSP, said the agency is considering an appeal.

"The integrity of our promotional process is of the utmost importance," she said. "We do not agree with the decision and will be reviewing our options for appeal under Civil Service Rules and Regulations."

Robert Proctor, a Lansing attorney representing Dhooge, could not be reached for comment.

Brantley was forced to retire as a result of the scandal, which investigators determined had tainted at least seven promotions between 2019 and 2023. Dhooge was an assistant post commander in Flint, along with Lt. Michael Phillipps, who chose to retire rather than face discipline. The post commander at West Branch, 1st Lt. Jeff Short, who was a former assistant post commander in Flint under Brantley accused of participating in the cheating, was demoted to trooper. Sgt. Jared Chiros, who blew the whistle on the scandal in September 2023 after he got in trouble for other rules violations, resigned from the MSP early this year. Around the same time, Sgt. Kevin Monroe was fired and Sgt. Nicholas Medina was demoted to trooper. Chiros, Monroe and Medina had all received exam questions in advance, officials said.

The scandal touched the highest levels of the MSP when Brantley told potential witnesses in the internal investigations that she had spoken to the department director, Col. James Grady, and he had told her there was "no evidence" against her, records the Free Press obtained under Michigan's Freedom of Information Act show. Grady was interviewed by internal affairs and told investigators Brantley was a friend he told to "be careful," but he denied telling her anything about the evidence against her.

In his summary of the case against Dhooge, Wyman wrote that Phillipps gave Dhooge an envelope containing exam questions prior to Dhooge's promotion exam in February 2022. But Dhooge testified he did not think much about receiving the envelope because he was stationed at a different post and had requested publicly available information related to the Flint post to prepare for his interview. Dhooge testified he got upset when he opened the envelope and shredded the documents without using them to prepare for the exam. He testified he did not discuss the incident with Phillipps or Brantley.

Before firing Dhooge, the MSP accused him of several violations of the MSP code of conduct, one related to not reporting that he had received advance questions for his own exam. Other counts alleged that he should have known or suspected that two candidates for other promotions had received questions in advance, that he lied during the internal investigation and that he was insubordinate.

But Wyman found the alleged violations related to Dhooge receiving the exam questions and to whether he should have known two other promotional candidates had received exam questions lacked specificity and Dhooge should have been given such specifics before discipline was imposed. There is no reliable evidence that Dhooge knew two other officers had been given exam questions in advance, Wyman wrote.

Also, "the department struggled to clearly, succinctly and consistently articulate what exactly Dhooge said that was a lie or mischaracterization," Wyman wrote. It appeared the department concluded that Dhooge had been untruthful based mostly on the testimony of others, despite the fact that testimony was contradicted by Dhooge, Wyman wrote.

The evidence also did not show that Dhooge was insubordinate, Wyman wrote.

Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or [email protected]

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Lieutenant fired over MSP promotions scandal must be rehired