Lt. Jeffrey Thomas resigned from the department amid an internal investigation into the allegations, but was hired by the New Lebanon Police Department. He was also fired from his position as commander of the Sinclair Police Academy earlier this year for alleged mistreatment of a cadet.
The lawyer for Lt. Jeffrey Thomas, Joshua Engel, said his client's actions were not criminal, which is why prosecutors declined to file charges. He said Lieutenant Jeffrey Thomas merely borrowed the signs to try to copy their style and create memorabilia and souvenirs from the NATO Parliamentary Assembly event.
“There was no intention to permanently deprive anyone of property, nor would it have been a theft offense,” Engel said. “This appears to be a relatively minor incident involving property from an already closed company that was not worth much money. Even if one believes all of the allegations are true, this is not the crime of the century.”
allegations
Lt. Jeffrey Thomas resigned from the Dayton Police Department on Oct. 19 after more than two decades of service. Lt. Jeffrey Thomas, the night watch commander for the West Patrol Operations Division, began working for the New Lebanon Police Department two days before his official retirement date, according to public records from the Ohio Attorney General's Office.
The Dayton Daily News recently published a summary report on the investigation into the allegations against Lt. Jeffrey Thomas obtained from the Professional Standards Bureau. The Professional Standards Bureau is the internal investigations unit of the Dayton Police Department.
According to the summary report, Lt. Jeffrey Thomas admitted taking three wooden board signs from the former Uno Chicago Bar & Grill at 126 N. Main St. in the early morning hours of May 26.
The former restaurant space, which closed in February 2024 and is owned by Dayton Live, was designated as a break area for law enforcement providing security during the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. A heavy police presence was planned during the five-day assembly session to protect visiting political leaders and dignitaries.
Although empty, there were still seating areas with booths in the former UN area. Some cubicles had wall-mounted paper towel holders with signs attached giving them nicknames such as “The Fireman's Cabin” and “The Police Chief's Cabin.”
Several police officers reported Lt. Jeffrey Thomas was seen at the restaurant around 4:10 a.m. on May 26, even though he was not assigned to NATO security at the time, the summary report said.
Witnesses said in interviews that they saw Lt. Jeffrey Thomas used a screwdriver to remove decorative signs that officers later determined read: “The Police Chief's Cabin,” “Reserved for Couples” and “The Commissioner's Cabin.”
According to the investigative summary, which includes transcripts of interviews with witness officers, no one asked Lt. Jeffrey Thomas, what he was doing at the time. An officer reported what he saw to a supervisor shortly afterward and later told investigators that he feared Lt. Jeffrey Thomas would react if confronted. He also feared possible reprisals.
“Given the way (Lt. Jeffrey Thomas) responds to officers, I didn't want to be caught alone in a room accusing him of doing something,” the officer told investigators.
When investigators Lt. When interviewed by Jeffrey Thomas on Aug. 15, he said he entered the NATO security area to “report to the night commander” and that he stopped at the 126 N. Main St. location to grab a snack, the report said.
Photo credit: Bryant Billing
Photo credit: Bryant Billing
Lt. Jeffrey Thomas claimed his intention was to borrow the signs so he could recreate them, with a plan to create plaques commemorating the historic NATO event, the investigation summary said.
Lt. Jeffrey Thomas said he planned to return the signs later the same day after taking “scale photos and measurements of the fonts to make replicas” at his home, the report said. He said he wanted to make signs with the same font and style but with different words.
A Dayton Live property manager who spoke with a police sergeant was upset and disappointed by the incident and confirmed that he did not give anyone permission to remove the signs, the investigative summary said.
The missing posters were handed in to police command a few days after they were taken. Police said the signs were returned to the property manager, who said Dayton Live did not want to press criminal charges.
The report states that footage recorded on Lt. Jeffrey Thomas' dashcam that day and reviewed as part of the internal investigation showed him leaving the restaurant with the signs around 4:45 a.m., driving to his apartment and leaving the property in his garage.
Dashcam footage also reportedly showed Lt. Jeffrey Thomas, while driving through downtown before going to the restaurant, ran red lights multiple times or made partial and incomplete stops at red lights, the report said.
The report describes how Lt. Jeffrey Thomas made incomplete stops and/or ran a series of six red lights in just over a minute. It is not stated how fast he was driving.
According to reports, Lt. Jeffrey Thomas also stopped his patrol car on the west side of South Jefferson Street, exited the vehicle and removed a blue NATO yard sign from one of the sidewalk mulch beds.
Investigation and review of dashcam footage also revealed that Lt. According to the documents, Jeffrey Thomas regularly drove his patrol car to and from home even though he did not have permission to do so.
Lt. Jeffrey Thomas was also fired from Sinclair in January after serving as an instructor/commander at Sinclair Community College's Criminal Justice Training Academy for nearly five years.
DPD investigated the firing and ultimately determined that Lt. Jeffrey Thomas violated department policies and code of conduct by engaging in “unprofessional and/or disrespectful behavior” toward a training academy cadet, documents show. Lt. Jeffrey Thomas was suspended for 24 hours for the violation.
Engel, the lawyer for Lt. Jeffrey Thomas said prosecutors investigating the incident at Uno's recognized that Lt. Jeffrey Thomas committed no crime.
“The people who deal with thefts all the time did the right thing here,” said Engel of Engel & Martin LLC, who worked in the Warren County district attorney’s office years ago. “You know the difference between a theft and a misunderstanding.”
Engel said, Lt. Jeffrey Thomas is a dedicated, professional public servant who looks forward to serving a new community.
Dayton Police Sgt. Kyle Thomas, president of the Dayton Fraternal Order of Police (the police union), said city government and police leadership often react emotionally when allegations are made against police officers that lead to internal administrative investigations.
But sergeant. Kyle Thomas said what really matters is not the allegations, but the actual facts and findings from the investigations, which he said often did not match or confirm the allegations.
Sergeant. Kyle Thomas said city officials are upset that Lt. Jeffrey Thomas led to an administrative incident during a high-profile international event.
“With Lt. Thomas, there was definitely a strong, emotional attachment, not to what the facts and results showed, but to the fact that we had to conduct this internal investigation during an international conference,” the union president said.
Sergeant. Kyle Thomas said he vouched for the police lieutenant when contacted by New Lebanon because Lt. Jeffrey Thomas has an excellent track record and does his job well.
“Take away his name and look at his record and the city would have to admit that he has been a good employee of the city of Dayton for 23.5 years,” the sergeant said.