A Brandon Township resident who assisted a mentally ill woman who was being evicted, as well as several township deputies who brought to a swift conclusion a school shooting threats case were among those honored May 13 by the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office.
Among the police officers recognized during the OCSO National Peace Officer’s Day Annual Awards Ceremony were deputies Richard Hubble, Eric Overall, Michael Pankey, James Saunders and Arnie Terrell, as well as Detective Nick Pung and Sgt. Greg Glover, all of whom received the Sheriff’s Department Citation for Professional Excellence for their work on the case that involved terrorist threats at the high school.
OCSO dispatched 12 patrol units to the district on Dec. 9, 2014 and stationed multiple deputies at each school building after several anonymous threats were posted the night before to ‘AfterSchool,? a social media app. Two of the messages, also seen on Facebook after the threats went viral, read, ‘Im warning all of you Im gonning (sic) to shoot up the school so if you know what good for you stay home? and ‘Tomorrow Im gonna shoot and kill every last one of you and its going to be bigger than Columbine just wait.?
Police subpoenaed records from Ambient, the developer of the now-defunct app, and the investigation led to the arrest the next day of Jacob Young, a BHS senior, at his township home. Young confessed to the crime and on April 1 was sentenced by Sixth Circuit Court Judge Wendy Potts to 90 days in jail and three years probation.
Glover noted the arrest was made within 32 hours of the threat being made and praised the deputies who worked the case and obtained multiple search warrants.
‘It’s nice that the department and the community recognize the hard work these guys put in,? he said. ‘As the substation commander, I truly appreciate the hard work and professionalism that my guys show on a regular basis.?
In addition to the recognition he received for work on the shooting threats case, Glover also received the Sheriff’s Distinguished Unit Citation for work he performed in the Special Investigations Unit prior to his assignment last year to the Brandon substation. That work consisted of investigations of officer-related shootings, bank robberies, and several homicides, including a shaken baby death in Brandon Township, in which arrests and convictions were obtained.
Cheryl Werner, a township resident who is also a legal assistant, was honored at the awards ceremony with a citizen citation for outstanding conduct in assistance to law enforcement.
On Aug. 15, 2013, Werner was contacted by Chad Chandler, a Hadley Township resident and district court officer who was executing an eviction notice in Pontiac on an elderly woman when he realized she clearly had mental illness.
Werner, who had worked for a county public administrator, advised Chandler to put the woman in a hotel for the night and said she would check on her the next day. She was shocked by what she would discover? the 76-year-old woman named Marlene weighed 67 pounds, didn’t know what day it was or what year, hadn’t showered in weeks and was infested with bedbugs.
‘It was obvious she could not take care of herself,? recalls Werner. ‘She had nowhere to go. Her husband was dead, her parents were dead, she never had kids, she had no siblings, she had nobody. The landlord had evicted her because she wouldn’t let anyone in to exterminate the bedbugs. I had no authority, I was just someone trying to find her a place to live.?
Werner found an adult foster care home in Holly that would take in Marlene and she filed a petition to be appointed guardian. She continues to visit Marlene and handles her finances and makes medical decisions for her.
While Werner is thankful for the award, she said she is doing what anyone should have done.
‘The circumstance presented itself,? she said. ‘I have empathy and compassion and I would hope anyone would do what we did (Chandler was also honored at the awards ceremony). I think it’s the right thing.?