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Troubled past dogs city's new cop

Questions are raised about an ex-Hillsborough chaplain and reserve deputy's application.

By JAMAL THALJI andJEFF TESTERMAN
Published September 29, 2005

ZEPHYRHILLS - The job application of the Zephyrhills Police Department's newest officer asks: Have you resigned or left a job by mutual agreement following allegations of misconduct or unsatisfactory job performance?

Pastor Ronald H. Clark checked "no."

But an examination of Clark's application by the St. Petersburg Times shows what could be several misstatements made by Clark, a former Hillsborough sheriff's chaplain and reserve deputy who left under a cloud.

"When we went down and checked his personnel files, his personal files came back clear and his internal affairs files came back clear," Zephyrhills police Chief Russell Barnes said.

The possible misstatements on his application involve the circumstances surrounding his departure from the Hillsborough Sheriff's Office as well as statements related to his debts and his widely publicized and bitter divorce.

* * *

In July 2003, Clark resigned from the Hillsborough Sheriff's Office after less than nine months of volunteering as a reserve deputy and chaplain.

Two superiors had recommended he not be retained, and one wrote that Clark broke the law by failing to hand over his firearms to law enforcement after his wife sought a temporary domestic violence injunction.

"He was a reservist, and I told him, based on the memos I'd received about problems with performing duties, I didn't need someone who wouldn't do the volunteer work," then-Sheriff Cal Henderson told the Times in 2003.

Soon after he began work, the complaints began. Clark wasn't picking up subpoenas on time. He wasn't returning numerous calls from superiors. When his wife filed a temporary domestic violence injunction against him, he took a leave of absence. But when sheriff's officials wanted their equipment back, Clark wouldn't cooperate.

The allegations are detailed in sheriff's memos obtained by the Times in 2003.

The memos detail specific complaints: Clark often failed to report for duty serving subpoenas; failed to report a fellow deputy's attempt to cover up an accident; and failed to turn over agency-issued equipment.

He also entrusted the return of a sheriff's cruiser (littered with trash) and his agency-issued shotgun to a civilian, his former associate Pastor Richard Barker.

Cpl. Scott Wellinger wrote to Henderson that by doing so Clark made decisions "neither appropriate nor safe," and shouldn't return to the agency.

Hillsborough sheriff's officials found Clark's alleged behavior troubling and in one instance illegal.

When his ex-wife filed the temporary domestic violence injunction against him, the law required the reserve deputy to turn over his firearms to a local agency, in this case the Pasco Sheriff's Office.

Instead he turned them over to a civilian, Barker, who put them in his gun safe.

A judge didn't mind, but Clark's bosses did.

"A willingness to disregard a lawful mandate of the Court ... is a criminal offense," wrote Hillsborough Col. Jose Docobo in a June 18, 2003 memo.

Zephyrhills police Chief Russell Barnes didn't mind either.

"My main issue is, did he in fact turn in the weapon, did he get the weapon out of his possession?" Barnes said. "It may be a technical violation, but I think he complied with the spirit of it."

The Hillsborough colonel was also troubled by the domestic violence allegation. Belinda Clark said her ex-husband threatened his way into her Pasco home in February 2003 and pushed her, causing her to fall.

"While these allegations do not prove the incident of battery," Docobo wrote, "they do generate substantial concern ...

"In light of these issues I recommend careful consideration be given prior to allowing Pastor Clark to resume any assignment as a Reserve Deputy."

Clark also had strong critics outside the agency. He was accused of wrongful arrest by two ex-church members and accused of using excessive force by one man he arrested at a Bucs-Packers game. The Sheriff's Office stood by that arrest, corroborated by other deputies. But a judge later reversed one of the battery convictions against a former church member.

"I'm stunned that such a controversial individual would be hired for any position of trust, let alone a police officer," said Pinellas attorney John Trevena, who represented two of the accusers.

Clark's family attorney, Dennis Alfonso, said his client told him he has no knowledge of the memos the Times cites. He said Clark obtained his personnel records from the Hillsborough Sheriff's Office soon after his resignation in preparation for his divorce and "there was nothing derogatory."

* * *

At its 2002 peak, Living Water Church of Tampa had 1,800 members.

A year later, founders Ronald and Belinda Clark saw their marriage crumble. The church crumbled, too.

Their divorce turned into a public spectacle, with each trading accusations.

He said she was trying to destroy him, that she stole church mail and money. She said he threatened her and planned to funnel church money overseas.

Both agreed to dismiss the temporary domestic violence injunction, and he agreed to give her custody of their son and daughter.

The U.S. Postal Service said the accusation that Mrs. Clark stole church mail and checks was unfounded. Her slander suit against Clark is one of the divorce's few remaining issues.

He was investigated by the IRS and filed for bankruptcy. So did his old church.

Zephyrhills police Chief Barnes said Clark was up front about the details surrounding his divorce.

"He mentioned all of that at oral interview boards," Barnes said. "(The divorce) was very contentious, and several different allegations had been made, things like that.

"But things came out all right in the end."

Clark declined to comment through his attorney. So did Belinda Clark and her attorney, Jack Hoogewind. Ronald Clark, 48, has since regained custody of the children, and both sides reached a mediated agreement on Sept. 23.

"He's been trying to put this whole divorce nightmare behind him," Alfonso said.

* * *

Clark's finances could also be an issue.

Zephyrhills Police Department applicants are required to list debts of more than $500. Clark lists nothing.

Yet his bankruptcy file shows he owes $165,000 to creditors. On Dec. 17, 2004, he and his new wife, Ronda, signed for a $246,900 mortgage on a Valrico home that isn't listed. On July 25 they signed for a new $309,500 mortgage.

On Aug. 15, his bankruptcy attorney, Matthew J. Kovschak, filed documents that say Clark owed him $26,734.78 and that the lawyer wanted to put a lien against a home near Walt Disney World his client owned.

Clark's explanation, given through his attorney, is that he notes in a supplement to the application that all his debts aren't listed because they are being paid under his Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization.

Alfonso said Clark told him the IRS sent him a letter saying they are no longer pursuing a criminal case.

* * *

Clark's application was signed May 20. His first day on the police force was Sept. 22. And he has a second job.

Besides his starting salary of $32,192.16, Clark also gets $39,000 as part-time pastor at the Sanctuary of Tampa Bay. The Temple Terrace church's Web site says he is the chairman of the board without voting rights.

"He's going to work it around his schedule with us," Barnes said. "Not the other way around."

City Manager Steve Spina signs off on all city hires. But he said he didn't learn of Clark's past until a reporter called him last week. "In this case, with the issues that were raised, I think it would have been better that I had been apprised of them prior to the phone call from a reporter," he said, "not after."

Barnes said Clark passed a background check and that the agency reviewed his Hillsborough files.

Clark told Barnes that Sheriff Henderson asked for his resignation in 2003 because of his divorce's publicity.

"I don't have a problem if it was handled the way Mr. Clark said it was handled," Barnes said. As for Clark's background, the chief added: "We'll definitely delve into this further."

[Last modified September 29, 2005, 01:19:16]