2 ex-Tucson cops, 2 recruits facing loss of state certification

Two former police officers and two recruits at local law enforcement agencies are facing the loss of their state licenses, officials said.

The Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board voted recently to initiate proceedings against Virgilio N. Marshall, Gabriel A. Rivera, Kyle D. Lovett and Matthew D. Moon, said spokeswoman Sandy Sierra.

The board can choose to revoke or suspend their peace officer certifications, which allow them to work in law enforcement in Arizona.

Marshall and Rivera worked at the Tucson Police Department, but Marshall was fired in March and Rivera resigned in April 2015, AZPOST records show.

Lovett applied to the Marana Police Department and Moon to the Pima County Sheriff’s Department in June, and while both men were participating in training at the academy, neither had been certified by AZPOST, according to the records.

All four will receive formal letters from the board and will have the option of a hearing with an administrative law judge, Sierra said.

Tucson police cases

Marshall was hired by TPD in December 2014 and graduated from the academy last April, AZPOST documents show.

In October, he responded to a burglary, and “failed to adequately process the scene, mishandled evidence, failed to properly document the victims’ information and listed inaccurate information as it pertained to the suspect vehicle,” the document said.

During his investigation, Marshall was conducting a walk-through of the residence, but repeatedly refused to take fingerprints off various surfaces the homeowner indicated had been disturbed during the burglary, including a pamphlet the burglar dropped on the floor, the document said.

The homeowner contacted Marshall’s sergeant, who returned to the residence to collect evidence that Marshall had missed, including cigarettes that had been dropped by the burglar, the document said.

During interviews with internal affairs, Marshall said he had collected the items, until he was shown an evidence list that refuted his claims.

Marshall was assigned to work the department’s front desk while the incident was investigated. In December, he fielded a call from a Department of Child Services employee, the document shows.

The caseworker asked Marshall to take a police report regarding two children who had been taken into DCS custody and tested positive for morphine, heroin and marijuana.

Marshall told the employee he would not take the report since no police officers were present during the initial contact. The employee explained the police report was necessary in order to prevent the parents from being reunited with their children, but Marshall still refused, the document said.

The employee transferred Marshall to a DCS supervisor, but he again refused to take the report. She finally gave up and was able to give the report to a sergeant in the child-abuse unit, according to the document.

Back to homepage

Subscriber Login

Keep reading with a digital access subscription.

Subscribe now

During his interview with internal affairs, Marshall “continually questioned why DCS waited so long to make the report” and claimed he told both employees he would take the report, the document said.

As a probationary employee, Marshall was fired for failing to meet standards.

Rivera, a 15-year veteran, resigned in lieu of termination after he was accused of failing to take basic steps when investigating three separate sexual assaults of juvenile girls, according to an AZPOST document.

The first incident took place in 2012, involving the rape of a girl at a party by multiple males.

Internal affairs officers documented more than 15 steps that Rivera — who was a detective at the time — failed to take while investigating the case.

“The court recognized police failure as a primary reason that only three of the alleged five rapists were arrested and that the males were ultimately charged with a lesser charge for their criminal acts,” the document said.

Because of the “critical errors” discovered in Rivera’s work, an administrative investigation was conducted, and two more cases were located where “he failed to accurately document pertinent facts, recall basic investigative details and complete necessary investigative processes.”

Rivera resigned in lieu of termination.

Marana police recruit

During a routine new-hire audit in July, the AZPOST discovered that Lovett, an applicant to the Marana Police Department, had lied about a theft case and drug use on past applications to multiple law enforcement agencies.

The case was referred by AZPOST auditors to director Jack Lane, who advised Marana police to remove Lovett from the academy, pending the outcome of his AZPOST case, the document said.

Pima County sheriff’s recruit

Moon applied to the Sheriff’s Department in June, when a new-audit hire by AZPOST discovered that he lied on previous TPD applications about a theft case against him and drug use, documents show.

The audit discovered that Moon had been permanently disqualified from TPD in 2009 for admitting he lied on the application and during a polygraph.

Moon was employed as a corrections officer at the Pima County jail when he applied to become a deputy and entered the sheriff’s academy last fall. He was removed from the academy in August and returned to his position as a corrections officer, the document said.