Details surface about officer and inmate
Documents trace Akron police sergeant's personal relationship with informant

By Andale Gross
Beacon Journal staff writer

Posted on Wed, May. 21, 2003

On the surface, it was a budding romance between ``Noelle Marie'' and ``Tom O'Malley.''

Noelle would confide in her journal how she wanted this man to be her ``own personal teddy bear.'' Tom would send Noelle love notes and even special pens, so she could write her sexually suggestive comments in purple ink.

In reality, ``Noelle'' is a prisoner doing time at the Ohio Reformatory for Women in Marysville for her role in a man's abduction and murder nearly 15 years ago. And ``Tom'' is an Akron police detective who was working on a homicide investigation with the inmate's help.

Akron detective Sgt. Sean Matheny has been serving a 60-day unpaid suspension since May 6 because the police department determined he and the inmate developed a personal relationship that was inappropriate. He is not appealing the discipline, but says the relationship has been mischaracterized.

Details about what led to Matheny's suspension emerged this week as the Akron City Law Department, in response to a public records request from the Akron Beacon Journal, released documents related to the investigation.

According to the documents, Matheny, 47, had a connection with the woman that began as business but evolved into what appeared to be a courtship that included letters, gifts of lingerie and money and constant phone calls.

Both deny ever having sex, although the two were alone together on at least one occasion after Matheny and another officer checked the woman out of Marysville and drove her to Akron, Youngstown and Pennsylvania to assist them in some investigations.

The woman told police that she and Matheny hugged and kissed in his office late one of those evenings, before she was booked into the jail overnight. He denies the contact.

Matheny's situation has led police supervisors to review how they handle off-site investigations, according to Akron Maj. Michael Madden.

Had Matheny been conducting his investigative work locally, the alleged relationship with the informant might not have gone unchecked for as long as it did, Madden said.

Identity withheld

Akron police have not disclosed the woman's identity because she was working with police as an informant. References to her are blacked out in the investigation files.

However, separate Summit County court records indicate that Matheny was working with 50-year-old Linda Karlen, who is serving the 13th year of a seven- to 15-year sentence.

Karlen was convicted in 1990 of conspiracy to commit kidnapping. The charge stemmed from her role in the 1988 death of Roger Pratt, who was lured to the Akron area from his home near Pittsburgh and killed. She was the girlfriend of one of the convicted murderers.

Karlen was helping Akron police with their ongoing investigation of that homicide -- there have been allegations that others were involved -- and other crimes, according to documents.

Matheny, a 22-year Akron police veteran whose duties include administering polygraph tests, did some peripheral work on the original Pratt investigation.

His most recent contact with Karlen appears to have begun in 2000. About that time, the Akron Police Department established a ``cold case'' unit and Matheny was working with the cold cases.

Karlen told investigators the relationship with Matheny began to get personal around November 2000.

It isn't clear why he began referring to her as Noelle, although she has used that as a pen name.

Karlen told investigators that Matheny suggested using the alias of Tom O'Malley to hide his identity. Matheny told the same investigators that the woman felt uncomfortable corresponding with a police officer so he used the different name for her safety. The letters to O'Malley went to a post office box.

``I just want you to know that I'm thinking about you constantly,'' reads one card written under Matheny's ``Tom'' alias.``I really do feel like I'm getting back some of my lost teen-age years! You are so very special to me!''

Noelle wrote: ``I often wonder what it would be like to have you hold me and kiss me. I hope we can find out before too long.''

While the mail reveals an intimate bond, the telephone calls to the Akron Police Department appeared to be business.

But there were lots of them. According to documents, Matheny accepted 231 collect calls from Karlen at his office from January 2001 through February of this year. The calls cost the police department about $1,250. They were reviewed and found to be excessive but not in violation of any policies.

According to the records, Matheny advised her to call his cell phone as well.

A field trip in which Matheny was allowed to transport Karlen from Marysville -- a Summit County judge signed papers permitting Karlen's temporary release in August 2002 -- drew the particular interest of investigators.

Karlen -- who ultimately led authorities to the body of Pratt more than a decade ago -- was taken to Pennsylvania to retrace some of those steps. She also allegedly helped with other unsolved crimes. And as a final stop, the detectives took her to visit an elderly couple in Pennsylvania -- possibly her parents but the records don't say -- for coffee and pie.

In appreciation for Karlen's help, Matheny petitioned for the woman to be released early from prison. A letter that Matheny sent to the parole board in February outlined the inmate's role in helping police investigate homicides and included a plea for her freedom.

Relationship surfaces

A month after Matheny's parole board request, the relationship surfaced.

Officials with the Ohio Department of Corrections became suspicious about some of the mail that Karlen was receiving.

According to prison policy, an inmate only can receive packages from people included on a special list. Matheny's name was not on the list. He had been sending her packages through others who were on the list.

But one of those packages apparently triggered suspicion and Karlen was put in isolation for 15 days. A search of the woman's cell turned up an assortment of letters and cards from ``Tom.''

She got a message to Matheny that she was being investigated.

A few days after that, according to documents, he approached his supervisors and asked to be taken off the case because he said he suspected Karlen had become infatuated with him.

During the subsequent investigation, Matheny maintained he was simply trying to keep a source happy and also that he really believed that she had been wrongly incarcerated.

When asked if it was ever appropriate for an officer to send a bra and panties to an inmate, he said it was a ``situational-type'' thing.

Akron police concluded Matheny had a romantic relationship with the woman, that he violated prison mail policy by sending mail under an alias, that he violated the department's trust and may have damaged the department's reputation.

Matheny was placed on leave with pay March 20 and eventually suspended. He stands to lose about two months of pay, or $9,000.

Sergeant defended

Matheny, who is married, and his supporters say his relationship with the woman has been mischaracterized.

``It definitely has been blown out of proportion,'' Matheny said this week during a brief phone interview. He described the situation to investigators as a ``fantasy pen-pal relationship.''

Matheny's attorney, Tom Adgate, said Matheny did write letters to the inmate but they weren't romantic in tone and they aren't the ones included in the investigation file.

``She made those letters up. They surely aren't his,'' Adgate said. ``She's trying to help herself by concocting these letters.''

The head of the police union described Matheny's behavior as being typical of officers who rely on informants for crime investigations. Matheny is only guilty of trying to keep his source happy so that she would continue to cooperate, said Paul Hlynsky, president of the Fraternal Order of Police Akron Lodge 7.

``He didn't cross the line,'' Hlynsky said. ``I think they had gotten to know each other, and there was some give and take, some kidding around, back-and-forth bantering.''

Maj. Madden agreed that it's not uncommon for police to do favors for informants, but he said Matheny became too involved.

Madden reiterated that this is Matheny's first disciplinary problem. He said Matheny remains a valued police officer and will return to his regular duties after the suspension.

However, the detective will have to work to regain the confidence of his supervisors.

``What was disappointing about this is he had our trust,'' Madden said. ``He is a sergeant, and we don't expect to be looking over everybody's shoulder.''

Andale Gross can be reached at 330-996-3743 or agross@thebeaconjournal.com