A Michigan news outlet’s investigation revealed how a former deputy slipped through the cracks of a background check and went on to be hired by a police department after he was fired from a sheriff’s office for going on a racist rant as he was on the way to buy drugs using a squad car.
ABC 7 Detroit reported that Greg Marohn was terminated from his job with the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office in Michigan in December 2020 just days after he used a marked deputy vehicle to buy Schedule II narcotics without a prescription while he was in uniform and on duty.
Marohn’s dash camera recorded him sending a voice-to-text message to a man the sheriff’s office later learned was his drug dealer. Marohn never turned his dashcam on. It activated automatically once he started driving the vehicle over 90 mph.
While he was driving, he spotted a Black woman walking her dog.
“(Expletive) you (expletive). Little evil (expletive). Imagine this (expletive),” Marohn said out loud, according to ABC 7 Detroit .“Imagine this (expletive) monkey, or whatever you are, Hispanic, or (n-word). They live in a nice house and think that they’re something.”
Marohn is not the first law enforcement officer who unknowingly recorded themselves using the racial slur. Last summer, former Cincinnati police officer Rose Valentino lost her bid to be reinstated to the force after she was caught on camera going on a racist rant against a random Black person in 2022.
Valentino had activated her police cruiser’s sirens and lights, targeting a teen driver who was blocking an exit in heavy traffic. The teen responded by flipping the officer off, causing her to spiral into a tirade about her disdain for Black people
“F—ing n—–s, I f—ing hate them,” Valentino said, Atlanta Black Star previously reported.
The Cincinnati police chief at the time saw the footage and fired Valentino.
It didn’t take long for the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office in Michigan to find the video of Marohn and launch an internal investigation. Marohn admitted he met his dealer to buy drugs while he was on duty and in uniform, but that wasn’t his first time. He said he’d done it before — around 10 times.
The sheriff’s office fired him.
Two years later, the Holly Police Department hired him, but police officials said they didn’t have a comprehensive knowledge of Marohn’s job history. The town of Holly is located in Oakland County, so Marohn didn’t have to go far to find a new position.
Holly Police Chief Jerry Narsh told ABC 7 Detroit that the background investigation into Marohn yielded no alarming findings. An investigator reviewed his Oakland County personnel file, but internal investigations are kept in other files, so there was no information on what led to Marohn’s termination. Holly police also never personally contacted the top brass in the sheriff’s office to follow up.
Marohn’s hiring was even overlooked by the Michigan Commission on Law Enforcement Standards (MCOLES), the state agency that has to run its own background checks on officers with negative job histories before other law enforcement agencies hire them.
It’s an added measure to strengthen the background process, but MCOLES officials told ABC 7 Detroit that staffing shortages were to blame for the oversight when Marohn was hired in Holly.
During Marohn’s interview process, he told Holly Police he was let go from the sheriff’s office because of a “poor driving history.”
He was hired in March 2022 but was let go in 2023 due to an on-duty performance issue. In July of that year, Marohn arrived for work unwell and had “extreme difficulties” using his police radio. He also couldn’t drive faster than 10 mph.
He went to the hospital, where he tested positive for a drug that helps treat opioid addiction and another drug that Holly Police didn’t disclose. He reportedly had prescriptions for both drugs and said he was “under treatment for medical and sleep conditions. He resigned from the force.
Police Chief Narsh said the department is currently reviewing its background investigation procedures and policy.
Marohn isn’t working as a law enforcement agent at this time.
