A Bloomington Police sergeant fired after 21 years on the force told detectives during an internal investigation into his alleged misconduct that he was attempting to shield two innocent people from unwarranted charges when he provided them with police reports in violation of department policy.
Timmothy Carlton, who is known as Ty, was fired on Jan. 30 after the department concluded a four-month probe into allegations that the veteran officer shared confidential information with two suspects and worked behind the scenes to thwart investigators’ work on the case. Targeted in the investigation involving four vials of liquid fentanyl reported missing in February 2023 from a Bloomington doctor’s office were Cassandra Lacey and her husband Jadelyn Lacey. The Laceys worked as registered nurses at the medical office.
Documents from the BPD obtained by WGLT through a public records request show the department sustained 40 violations of the city employee handbook, and the BPD’s rules and regulations and standard operating procedures against Carlton. The department had no comment on Carlton’s termination.
The violations outlined in more than 80 pages of documents include sharing confidential and protected information, conflict of interest, official misconduct, insubordination, making a false report and making disparaging remarks about another officer.
McLean County State’s Attorney Erika Reynolds said she recused her office from a review of potential criminal charges against Carlton and referred the matter to the Illinois State’s Attorneys Appellate Prosecutor. Reynolds declined to comment on the recusal in the case that has the makings of a complicated legal scenario, if Carlton’s dismissal becomes intwined with the pending cases against the Laceys.
A trail of text messages
Police suspicions about Carlton arose in July 2023, after the Laceys were arrested on theft charges unrelated to the fentanyl matter. Felony charges accuse the pair of taking funds from Blueze Wellness, a holistic health service in Bloomington, where they worked after leaving the doctor’s office.
A search by police of the couple’s cell phones showed text messages from Carlton in which he shared police reports with the couple before they were interviewed by police in the fentanyl case. BPD Chief Jamal Simington requested an investigation on Aug. 30. Carlton was placed on paid administrative leave the next day and remained on that status until his dismissal from the job that paid $114,795 in 2022.
The Laceys were acquainted with Carlton and his wife Wendy.
The nurses previously worked with Wendy Carlton, a self-employed nurse anesthetist, at the Bloomington doctor’s office. The Laceys were suspected of taking the missing drugs, according to text messages included in a 70-page report authored by Sgt. Bill Lynn, who conducted the investigation with Assistant Chief Chad Wamsley. No charges were filed in that case.
With assistance from the Illinois State Police, the BPD reviewed hundreds of text messages between the Carltons and the Laceys related to the investigation. Carlton is asked and agrees in the messages to access and share confidential reports stored on McLean County’s integrated computer system used by all county justice agencies for writing and sharing reports.
The reports included the date and timestamp for each document printed by Carlton. He told detectives during his interview that he was not aware the system tracked those details.
Carlton acknowledged to detectives that he and his wife were working together to try to help the Laceys fend off what the Carltons believed were inaccurate theft allegations in the fentanyl case. When his wife expressed concern in a May 19 text that the Laceys were being harassed, Carlton responded, “Let me look at it tonight and I’ll give you advice for them.”
During his overnight shift on May 19, Carlton printed police reports and took them home, where he shared them with his wife, according to records from the BPD report of its investigation. The Carltons later met with the Laceys and provided them with the reports. The heavily redacted findings stated that Carlton directs a male, presumably Jadeyn Lacey, “not to let anyone know that he has them and to destroy them when he is done with them.”
The reports were not destroyed and later surfaced during the probe into Carlton’s conduct, according to the BPD.
The former officer’s efforts to help the Laceys went beyond providing them with investigative reports. Officers unidentified in the documents told detectives investigating Carlton that he inquired about who was assigned to interview witnesses and asked to share “the back story” on the Laceys.
A patrolman working on the case said Carlton asked him not to list the Laceys “as suspects in his report,” an allegation Carlton denied. The single count of official misconduct against Carlton alleges that Carlton’s direction caused the officer to change “how he had intended to investigate his report.”
Several officers interviewed during the internal investigation said they believed the sharing of police reports with suspects is detrimental to an investigation.
Charges against the Laceys
New accusations surfaced against the Laceys in July when the owners of Blueze Wellness reported funds missing from Blueze Hydration, a limited liability company operated by the husband and wife, next door to the health service on East Washington Street.
The owners of Blueze Wellness told police the couple diverted a total of about $16,000 from April to July from company accounts for personal expenses, including legal fees, food, and renovations for a new business location.
In a September court filing, Jadelyn Lacey’s lawyer argues that the expenses were made with the knowledge and approval of management but were recorded for accounting purposes as “loan to others.”
The Laceys are free on personal recognizance bonds.
Carlton’s response
Carlton declined WGLT’s request for comment on his departure, but in his interview with detectives ahead of his termination, the former sergeant attempted to explain why he believed his actions were within department policy – and justified.
The decision by Carlton to help the Laceys was made after he was convinced the reports involving the drug theft were “bogus,” investigators noted in their findings. That assessment was important, Carlton told the detectives, “because of 21 years of being a police officer. I don’t give information out to people who I believe are suspects.”
“I wanted to help facilitate the total investigation based off the evidence that they gave me,” Carlton told detectives.
When asked if the release of police reports to suspects was proper, Carlton said the Laceys were not suspects in “his book." He acknowledged that handing over confidential information to suspects would be improper.
During his tenure with the department, Carlton served as an active shooter and patrol tactics instructor and field training officer. Under Illinois law, he will collect his pension unless he is convicted of a felony committed in the line of duty.
Carlton told investigators he was not involved in the Lacey investigation between June 18 and July 28, the day the couple was arrested.
