– City terminates Police Sgt Nagel following review

Jamestown (CSi) Jamestown Police Department detective involved in a false Jet Ski report was terminated from his position Wednesday.

The letter of termination was signed by Jamestown City Administrator Jeff Fuchs and Jamestown Mayor Katie Andersen. Andersen and Fuchs hold the “appointing authority” under the Jamestown Civil Service ordinance and based their letter of termination and on Police Chief Scott Edinger’s and the review board’s recommendations.

The review board, consisting of four police officers and one private citizen, recommended terminating Nagel for violating 19 policies. The policy violations were not individually listed in the letter from Jamestown Police Chief Scott Edinger to City Administrator Jeff Fuchs informing Fuchs of the review board’s findings and recommending that Nagel be terminated from his job.

Nagel’s attorney, Joe Larson, said the termination will be appealed through a hearing before the Jamestown Civil Service Commission.

No hearing date has been set.

The request for the hearing must be made within five days of termination and the hearing must be held within 15 days of the request.

The termination resulted from internal investigations conducted by the Jamestown Police Department and the Stutsman County Sheriff’s Office after an anonymous tip was made to the KVLY Valley News Live Whistleblower Hotline alleging a sheriff’s deputy and the son of the sheriff were improperly using a Jet Ski owned by Stutsman County. Stutsman County does not own a Jet Ski, and the allegations were proven to be false. The investigations attempted to ascertain who made the allegations and if any violations of department policy or of the North Dakota Peace Officer’s Code of Conduct occurred.

Larson says, “Tom Nagel is an honest cop. He is a victim of a witch hunt. What they are doing to him is shameful and disgusting. He will be vindicated.”

In documents released by the department, Police Detective Sgt. Thomas Nagel had worked for the department since 1989. CSi file photo