I had been cooperating at that time [spring 2023] for at least two years with the FBI. There are several reports that I believe are corrupted. The agent's name that I had been talking to is Agent Hagen (phonetic), again, this has been going on for two years.”

Retired Lieutenant Paul Slavik under oath while testifying on July 24, 2024

Attachments

Amended Accident report obtained via FOIL request

Hearing transcript 1 obtained via FOIL request

Hearing transcript 2 obtained via FOIL request

SULLIVAN COUNTY, NY — Two officers who served in the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office have accused longtime Sheriff Michael Schiff and Undersheriff Eric Chaboty of ordering an accident report to include incorrect information, running a hostile work environment and allege that the office is under investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

The allegations bubbled into public view when Tim Dymond, retired New York State Senior Police Investigator, announced his run for Sullivan County Sheriff at the January 16 public safety meeting of the Sullivan County Legislature. In that meeting, he claimed that the office is hostile, lacks protocol and is under FBI investigation. 

Sheriff Schiff, who is currently running for reelection, told the River Reporter after the meeting, “It’s a real stretch, a real stretch of some of those situations."

"I’m flabbergasted,” he added.  “There’s a lot they touch on that I can’t talk about. I’ve got cases pending on these things, a hearing that was—we're waiting for the response from the hearing.  I just am not sure what I can get into and what I can't discuss, [regarding] what he [Dymond] alleged. There’ll be a finding from that hearing, and the way that it was described sounded very over the top, not quite the way it was made to sound.”

Dymond, a Republican, will run against Schiff, also a Republican, in a primary this summer to determine who will be on the ballot in November’s general election for the office of Sheriff. 

After Dymond publicly stated there was an ongoing FBI investigation, Republican-aligned political group Sullivan Legacy issued a press release denying the investigation, citing an empty Freedom of Information Law response to the FBI as evidence. The press release was then reposted by Sheriff Schiff, who denied any ongoing FBI investigation of the Sheriff’s Office (see sidebar at the bottom of the page).

The River Reporter has spoken with three employees of the sheriff's office who say they have spoken with the FBI in connection with an investigation of the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office. 

These allegations originally surfaced in a July disciplinary hearing against a member of the Sheriff’s office, a transcript of which was obtained by the River Reporter through the Freedom of Information Law. 

In that transcript, retired Lieutenant Paul Slavik claims under oath that he has provided information to an ongoing FBI investigation into the Sheriff's office and Chief Blake Muthig accuses the undersheriff of ordering an accident report to include incorrect information.

“I had been cooperating at that time [spring 2023] for at least two years with the FBI. There are several reports that I believe are corrupted. The agent's name that I had been talking to is Agent Hagen (phonetic), again, this has been going on for two years,” Slavik said under oath while testifying on July 24, 2024.

According to Sheriff Accountability Action, a national advocacy organization pushing for sweeping reforms to the institution of the county sheriff, these concerns are not unique to Sullivan County.

“Sheriffs have a lot of outsized local power within their counties, with little to no accountability,” deputy director Amber Walker told the River Reporter. “The ways that they can wield that power in situations like this are not uncommon and are endemic across the country.”

RR photo by Ruby Rayner-Haselkor

RR photo by Ruby Rayner-Haselkor

Incorrect accident report

At the July misconduct hearing, Blake Muthig, the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Chief and officer of internal affairs of the Sheriff’s office, testified under oath. He testified that an accident report prepared by the Sheriff’s office for a motor collision between a Liberty Police Department vehicle and a civilian vehicle on February 20, 2020, was ordered to include incorrect information by Undersheriff Chaboty at the request of the Liberty Police Chief at the time, Scott Kinne. According to Muthig’s testimony, the report was changed from having placed fault on the police vehicle to placing fault on the civilian vehicle.

Speaking of his investigation into the accident report, Muthig testified that “the undersheriff was, in my final findings, the one who directed the report to be changed.” Muthig also said, “I believe the initial report by the deputy that went to the scene, investigated it, was accurate.” 

Answering why the report was changed, Muthig testified, “My best understanding is that the chief of another police department contacted him [Undersheriff Chaboty] and reported that the deputy that investigated the accident and wrote the report had made an error as to the responsible driver of the other vehicle.” 

Muthig said, “Who caused the accident was changed from…the police car being at fault. It was changed to the other driver and car.”

Based on a video of the accident Muthig had, obtained he also testified, “I got some video that's from a long distance away, but that was incorrect. The police car never turned his lights on until the other driver had no opportunity to avoid the collision.” See video below. 

Adding incorrect information to an accident report can be a crime. 

The current Liberty Police Department Chief Steven D’Agata, who replaced Scott Kinne in 2021, returning the River Reporter request for comment by email wrote that he’s “aware of the facts and circumstances surrounding” the accident.

D'Agata said the report was changed after “an inconsistency between the Sheriff's office accident report and the internal administrative investigation was discovered. Specifically, the Sheriff's Office report did not include the material fact that the Liberty Police vehicle's emergency lights had been activated at the time of the accident.”

Responding to the River Reporter’s request for comment in an email, Chaboty says he directed the change of the accident report at the request of Kinne, and was made aware several months later that there was a video of the incident that “showed that the police car was already into the u-turn when it activated its emergency lights.” He said, “I am told that the Liberty Police car was found to be at fault and the Village had to pay for the damage.” 

As of January, the official accident report, labeled “an amended report,” does not reflect the video of the incident. It states the Liberty Police Department car was traveling with “its lights activated” and the civilian vehicle “failed to yield the right of way to an emergency vehicle.” See the amended accident report attached at left. 

According to the River Reporter's review of the video of the accident, the police vehicle lights only come on as the civilian car is already passing the police car. 

Follow-up questions from the River Reporter to Chief D’Agata as to whether he had seen the video footage and whether he was aware that the amended report was inconsistent with the video went unanswered.  

Hostile work environment: prejudice and sexism

The July disciplinary hearings at which these allegations were made were for a misconduct charge against Detective Harb by the Sheriff's Office. Harb was accused of making disparaging remarks at a union meeting a year and a half earlier. 

Harb’s attorney James Tuttle argued the charges were made in retaliation for Harb’s actions as the union president of the Sullivan County Police Benevolent Association (PBA) and his knowledge of these misconduct allegations in his union role.   

Undersheriff Chaboty denies retaliation and says that the claim is being used as a “cover” for being in trouble. 

Today, Harb, still working at the Sheriff’s Office, has still not received a recommendation from the hearing officer, and the misconduct case remains undetermined. 

Harb has filed two complaints with the county against the Sheriff’s Office, one claiming a hostile work environment, and the other claiming discrimination; the county’s investigations determined that both claims were founded, citing "Sufficient evidence.” 

The reply from the county to the hostile work environment complaint states, “As a result of the investigation into the complaint filed… there was one finding of sufficient evidence that one employee of the Sheriff’s Office violated the county’s discriminatory harassment policy through their actions on a recording on May 4, 2023. This employee stated, 'I got a few Jewish relatives, who don't? I got some Palestinian friends too. You know about them guys right? They don’t play nice. They’ll just f*cking kill you.'" See the full letter in photos, scroll right.

Another hostile incident Harb alleges was a meeting he recorded in the office of the Health and Human Service Commissioner, John Liddle, on December 2, 2022, where Undersheriff Chaboty, Chief Muthig, then-County Attorney Mike McGuire and Liddle were all present. 

Harb describes the meeting as “something out of the 1950s.” The meeting attendees discussed moving Harb to work as an investigator for the Family Violence Response Team, which is headed by Senior New York State Police Investigator Nancy Stack.

During the conversation, Liddle says to Harb, referring to the female-led unit, “I can help you offset the estrogen pool; if you need help with that just let me know.” Undersheriff Chaboty scoffs and says,‘Yeah, offset the estrogen mafia.’” While reviewing a copy of the recording, the River Reporter could hear laughter erupt. 

Recalling the conversation, Harb says, “I'm a husband and a father of two little girls and to say that I'm disgusted with what I'm hearing about the DA at the time, Meagan Galligan, my potential future boss, Nancy Stack, and women in general, would be an understatement.”

Sullivan County communications director Dan Hust, on behalf of Liddle, responded to the River Reporter’s request for comment by quoting  Sullivan County Manager Joshua Potosek. 

 ‘“Allegations of disparaging remarks by employees are taken very seriously by the County, including my office. As this is a personnel matter, we cannot offer further comment at this time,” stated Potosek. “Our employees are to be treated with respect and dignity, and I am committed to ensuring their words and actions are in alignment and compliance with our policies. If any County employee feels they have been subject to disparaging remarks, I encourage them to inform their supervisor or contact our Human Resources office, so that we can address concerns promptly and effectively.”’

Undersheriff Chaboty, returning a request for comment on the incident said, “I am familiar with the incident, which was investigated by the County's outside law firm.”

A recently retired employee of the sheriff's office who spoke to the River Reporter and requested his name be withheld for fear of retaliation said he’s seen the undersheriff and sheriff ignore and disregard input from female employees. 

As to one such employee, whom he compared to the competent character Donna on the popular TV show “Suits,” he stated she is ignored because “she’s honest and tells things the way it is, not just what they want to hear, and to me, they strip authority from her, in particular, because she's on the up and up and doesn’t tolerate bullsh*t. I just think they don’t trust her to cover for them.” 

In response to claims that female employees are ignored, Chaboty said, “Our one female lieutenant runs our Youth Division which is the largest squad in the Sheriff's Patrol,” and “[o]ther female deputies are free to make suggestions. They are routinely sent to specialized training and are encouraged to participate in our various enforcement details.”

Walker, of the national organization, Sheriff Accountability Action, says that it's unfortunate and harmful when Sheriffs do not set and uphold standards of public safety within their office. “When they opt to not investigate claims of harm within their offices, this creates a precedent that they are above the law, and don't have to adhere to the laws of land, and is something their constituents, the voting public, should and can hold them accountable for. They can do this through advocacy, voting or ballot initiative efforts, to name a few,” Walker says.

Returning the River Reporter’s request for comment on the allegations in this article, Undersheriff Chaboty wrote in an email, “It is obvious that these issues have been timed to coincide with the current election. A couple of them date back to 2017 and the 2021 election cycle.”

Recently retired Lieutenant Slavik says speaking up about his knowledge of the FBI investigation has nothing to do with the upcoming election. He says he's not going back to the sheriff's office regardless of who wins the election.

Detective Harb says he has much more to lose than gain by calling out corruption. Harb is still employed at the Sheriff’s Office, “I have a target on my back,” he said. “I have a wife and two kids,” he points out, adding “I’m sticking my neck out.”

Photo from the Sullivan County G

RR photo by Ruby Rayner-Haselkor

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More Commentary on alleged FBI investigation

Editor's Note: This story has been updated from an earlier version to more accurately state Blake Muthig testified that an accident report was ordered to be changed to include information that is “incorrect.”  The River Reporter is committed to transparency and delivering the most accurate information and apologizes to readers for any inconvenience.