Beaufort County Sheriff's Office releases personnel file of former investigator
A Beaufort County Sheriff's Office investigator, whose interrogation of a suspect prompted accusations of coercion in a high-profile assault trial in 2010, was disciplined four times before he was fired in 2011, according to his personnel file.
Sheriff P.J. Tanner said he did not think Louis Novak committed a fireable offense until April 11, 2011, when he failed to attend a follow-up meeting after he had been suspended days earlier, according to his file, released this week by the Sheriff's Office. However, he was counseled by a commander a year earlier for repeatedly exercising poor judgment and "less than acceptable" conduct, the file indicates.
"All the disciplinary actions taken against Louis Novak were done administratively," Tanner said. "Corrective action was taken on him, he was dealt with appropriately, and he was terminated in April 2011."
Novak declined to comment for this story.
Earlier this month, a jury decided the Sheriff's Office did not frame a suspect in a 2008 beating of a Bluffton man. The civil lawsuit was brought by Theophilus Hamilton, one of three people accused of assaulting Brian Lanese in Lanese's backyard.
Hamilton claimed in the lawsuit that Novak threatened another suspect in the case into casting blame on him and Harry Chris Battle Jr. Hamilton and Battle were acquitted in 2010. Battle also sued the Sheriff's Office and settled his case for $30,000.
Novak's disciplinary history was ruled inadmissible in Hamilton's civil case. It included two reprimands in 2006 for causing a traffic accident and lying about the use of county funds to buy alcoholic drinks, according to the file.
He also was placed on probation in 2009 for his involvement in a domestic violence dispute, in which he was attacked by his girlfriend and reacted by striking her in the head, according to a 19-page incident report provided Monday along with the personnel file. That report was not part of Novak's personnel file.
The investigation was closed after Novak and the ex-girlfriend told deputies they did not want to press charges. Novak was counseled on his behavior by the enforcement division commander.
In April 2011, Novak was suspended for refusing to give a deposition in a civil lawsuit that the Lanese family filed against Beaufort County paramedics, his file states. He also called the plaintiff and wife of the beating victim, Tracy Lanese, to discuss the deposition, according to the Sheriff's Office.
Novak told Deputy Chief Mike Hatfield he did not want to be deposed because he did not want to address his disciplinary history and wanted his own attorney. He was fired a few days later when he did not attend a follow-up meeting with Hatfield, claiming he felt sick and planned to resign, according to the Sheriff's Office.
Novak's file also included commendations for his service, including a letter from the mother of a runaway Hilton Head Island teenager whom Novak found and retrieved from Raleigh, N.C., in 2006.
Novak's file did not mention an interrogation he conducted in 2008 with Kuwan Fields, the suspect in the Lanese case.
Last week, Tanner said he was unsure whether Novak was disciplined for the interview. He said parts of the interview -- including threats to throw Fields' family out onto the street while it was raining -- were inappropriate.
Follow reporter Rebecca Lurye on Twitter at twitter.com/IPBG_Rebecca.
Related content:
- Despite missteps, sheriff confident in investigators' work, August 16, 2014
- Jury sides with Beaufort County Sheriff's Office in unlawful-arrest suit, August 6, 2014
- Senior investigator disciplined, deputy fired after Sheriff's Office review, June 14, 2014
This story was originally published August 21, 2014 at 11:18 PM with the headline "Beaufort County Sheriff's Office releases personnel file of former investigator."