Harford County Sheriff’s Office Maj. Mark Forwood has been fired by Sheriff Jesse Bane, the department announced in a brief statement Tuesday afternoon.
“Effective November 30, 2010, Major Mark Forwood’s employment with the Harford County Sheriff’s Office has been terminated by Sheriff L. Jesse Bane,” HCSO spokeswoman Monica Worrell wrote in an e-mail.
Forwood, selected by Bane as the department’s chief investigator, had been suspended since April while an investigation into alleged improper conduct played out. He was suspended without pay earlier this month after charges of involvement in a theft scheme, a felony, and misconduct in office, a misdemeanor, were filed on Nov. 1.
Forwood may face new charges following his arrest Sunday for the alleged theft of items from the Home Depot in Bel Air.
Bel Air Police Department Chief Leo Matrangola directed questions about details of Sunday’s incident to documentation on file with the court commissioner. Matrangola said the Bel Air Police Department could take no further action until Home Depot decided whether to press charges against Forwood.
“The store alleged that Mark stole property. It’s up to them to file charges in these cases,” he added.
Attorney Gus Brown has represented Forwood in his theft scheme and misconduct case, but said charges had not been filed and he was not representing Forwood in regard to the alleged theft at Home Depot. Brown also didn’t want to speculate on what impact, if any, Sunday’s incident might have on his client’s case.
“I do not know what impact this latest turn of events will have,” Brown said.
Worrell declined further comment on Forwood’s termination, citing the possibility of future legal action whenever an employee is terminated. She declined to say whether Forwood could or would challenge the termination, and whether the 21-year veteran of the force could lose benefits accrued during his period of service.
Check back with The Dagger for updates to this breaking story.
Only took Bane 7 months to do the right thing. A new speed record for him.
I worked with Mark Forwood. I think he is still innocent until he has his day in court. If you knew Mark you would know this is really hard to swallow. I sat in court many times and had lawyers come in and cry to the judge because their client had problems in the child hood. There dad did not hug them enough. A cop is a person, just a normal person. He or she is put into the academy and trained. Then the reality hits when you start working the streets and you get to see all the crap that goes on. People who kill others, hurt children, beat women and do other unspeakable things. After a while this will break you down. I do not care what the real tough guys say, if it does not get to you at one point you are not human. I am not making excuses for Mark, if he is convicted then he should pay for his crime. Being a police officer makes this worse. Maybe something happened to cause this. Again, not making excuses. If Mark has a problem, then he should get the same consideration that every other person gets when the go to court. First he should be innocent until he is found guilty.
Id like to take some people out and go on patrol for six months. Deal with the suicides, murders, fatal crashes and other things and see if you still function the same way after this. Don’t judge him until you know all the facts.
I take it you don’t think Sheriff Bane should have fired Forwood, at least not until Forwood was found guilty in court.
I know many police officers, both active and retired. They have as I am sure you have, seen unspeakable things, women beaten, children hurt, and death. They don’t however do those things, I don’t, and hopefully you don’t. We (Cops) have all seen it, we have all been through the training but we know and understand the difference between them and us. Perhaps because you know Forwood, you just can’t bring yourself to accept that he is a thief, as tho something extraordinary had to have happened to make him a common thief. What difference does it make if he is stealing to pay for other illegal activity, or he just likes to gamble and was not good at it. It would appear that he is a Cop gone bad. It happens more than we would like to admit, but it happens, and more often than not for all the wrong reasons. Very few people steal for the right reasons. Come to think of it I don’t know of any who do it for the right reasons.
Since Bane has won reelection I see he no longer feels he needs to hide behind LEOBR with regard to Forwood. Forwood still has not been “found guilty” of a crime and Bane has fired him. Where are all the screamers now? Where is Sam52 and 1ManWolfPack to tell us how wrong we were to say that Bane could fire Forwood “at will”.
Well good for Sheriff Bane. He has finally done the right thing. He must have had a new set of nads implanted this weekend, or perhaps he just got tired of looking in the mirror and not liking what was looking back.
Right you are Retiredawhile. Now we see what kind of man Forwood is and we see what kind of man Bane is, both an embarassment to the Office. Bane played politics before being a cop (nothing new there) and let the reputation of the deputies be tarnished for his own gain. Simply amazing that he can now just be fired.
William,
Bane, through his lack of action (for his own personal gain in an election year) also cost the taxpayers of Harford County the unnecessary expense of approximately $71,500 in payments made to Forwood while Forwood sat at home suspended with pay.
It is amazing to me that many people in Harford County feel we should just turn our heads to this kind of thing and “move on”. If the citizens do not demand some accountability from Bane on issues like this then we really do deserve what we get from our elected representatives.
Jesse Bane knows in his heart what he should have done in April 2010, he knows in his heart why he didn’t do the right thing then, and he should apologize to the citizens for his actions
I agree but knowing what kind of man Bane is, that will never happen. Harford county voters should now understand why voting Bane back in was a HUGE mistake.
Bane played everyone for fools who voted for him. He took advantage of the fact that people who didn’t know any better or refused to believe what was being said and written about him, saw him as a kind and compassionate person. Now the public knows what the insiders do. Bane Lovers–you got the last laugh but the taxpayers get screwed. Hope you enjoy the next 4 years or more stunts like this.
yes we will continue to laugh and have a good time. it seems so much better than crying all the time like you do. season’s greetings
I think you’re giving Bane too much credit. I don’t believe he knows in his heart that he should have done anything any differently than exactly what he contrived to do while motivated and consumed by a personal interest in self-gain that corrupts his judgement and his actions to the extent that he can’t see his own wrongdoing for what it is. I believe it is now the voters who supported him, not Jessee Bane, who know in their hearts what they should have done…at least I hope they realize it.
I stand corrected!!
To protect & serve. I like that. and use your badge to steal from the county,The only mistake he made was he was caught. maybe we should do a shake down of all the county offices. and see who is stealing….
It’s a sad chapter for Bane and HCSO. Too bad the matter was not properly addressed. Time to move on.
Perhaps, and I do not know this to be the case, Sheriff Bane was attempting to limit the fallout that will result from a criminal conviction. If Forwood tries to claim dimished capacity of any kind, mental, medical, whatever, it will throw all convictions based on his direct involvement into question and open to appeal. Maybe even his indirect involvement, in terms of supervision, will be grounds for appeals of convictions. Imagine what this will cost Harford County in terms of money, time, reputation and public safety. The fallout could be enormous.
It has already cost Harford County an unnecessary amount of money just by paying Forwood to sit at home for seven months doing nothing to benefit the citizens of Harford County. For seven months Forwood has been paid his $107,600 annual salary, accrued annual and sick leave, and received additional credit toward his retirement.
You are right, it is going to cost an enormous amount of money in the future. We will be paying for Mark Forwood for many years to come.
David Craig and Jesse Bane should be held responsible for paying Forwood for nothing for the last 8 months. It is obvious that Craig supports Bane in every way. We should also thank David Craig for his support of the Police Union and the monsterous raises they received over the last 4 years.