Toledo officer faces new charges
1/9/2013A Toledo police officer facing administrative charges for sharing graphic photographs and investigation details in the death of a 9-year-old girl received more charges when authorities determined he showed the pictures to a restaurant waitress and offered to show them to the eatery's owner.
Officer John Kachenmeister, 51, was charged recently by the police department's internal affairs section with violating the department manual. He allegedly showed accident scene and pre-autopsy examination pictures of Amanda Rose Feaster, who was struck and killed Oct. 21 by a pickup truck as she was ringing a doorbell at 391 Dennis Ct. in the McClinton Nunn Homes.
In November, he was charged administratively with showing photographs of the girl's body and sharing information, such as how evidence was gathered, with two employees of the Lucas Metropolitan Housing Authority, other officers, civilian employees of the police department, and members of his family. Now he is charged with showing the pictures to a waitress at Terri's Restaurant on Front Street and offering to show them to the owner.
He faces administrative charges of conduct unbecoming an officer, conduct subversive or prejudicial to the good order and discipline of the department, and dishonesty. He was charged with dishonesty because he allegedly failed to tell internal affairs investigators he showed the pictures to the waitress. “He didn't tell us about it, and there's some indication he should have told us about it,” said Sgt. Jeff Sulewski of internal affairs.
Officer Kachenmeister could not be reached for comment. He was reassigned to desk duty after the first set of charges was filed. He called out sick from work in December and has not returned, Deputy Chief Linda Mason said.
Sergeant Sulewski said an official in Mayor Carty Finkbeiner's administration was having coffee at the restaurant and reading The Blade on Dec. 1, the date on which a story about the prior charges appeared. Another patron noticed the story and commented about it.
A waitress walked up to the official and other patron and said she saw the pictures written about in the story. The city official then contacted police Chief Mike Navarre's office with the information, the sergeant said.
“It would be unfair to comment at all,” said Gregg Harris, president of the Toledo Police Patrolman's Association. An association attorney representing Officer Kachenmeister could not be reached for comment.
A hearing on all the charges is scheduled for Jan. 16 before Chief Navarre.
Officer Kachenmeister joined the force in 1990. He has received two 10-day suspensions without pay, one for comments he made last year about the mayor, police chief, and Lucas County Sheriff James Telb that were caught on videotape at the county jail booking desk. The other days are from a 1999 suspension for distributing party invitations city officials felt were insulting to the mayor and police chief.
In 1996, Officer Kachenmeister was suspended 12 days for telling explicit jokes in a bank lobby, a department store, and the Safety Building.