Crime & Safety

Clearwater Police Lt. Resigns Amid Investigation

Lt. Richard Crean searched hundreds of names on a special state driver license database including friends, co-workers and some celebrities with no legitimate law enforcement reason, according to the investigation.

A Clearwater Police lieutenant searched for hundreds of names on a special state driver license database mostly out of curiosity, according to an Internal Affairs investigation.

Lt. Richard Crean looked up driver license photos and emergency contact information hundreds of times with no legitimate law enforcement reason, mostly for women between the ages of 24-33, including celebrities, coworkers' girlfriends and their families, according to the investigation.

“When asked about accessing the emergency contacts of various persons 200 times, he could only remember accessing it a handful of times and was 'shocked' that he had accessed it that many times,” according to the Clearwater Police Internal Affairs investigation. “Therefore, he was unable to give an explanation as to why he would have accessed that information.”

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Rather than face a 10-day suspension and termination, Crean, a 22-year veteran of the force, resigned Monday, July 1.

The investigation kicked off around the time criminal charges were brought against Crean for allegedly using the state's driver and vehicle information database to search for a license plate sent to him by Laura McLynas of Palm Harbor were dropped in November 2012.

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Crean’s access to the Driving and Vehicle Information Database, also known as the DAVID system, was investigated from July 1, 2011 to Aug. 2, 2012 because of the McLynas case. 

While prosecutors dropped the case, police Internal Affairs conducted its own investigation.

James McLynas made a public records request Dec. 26, 2012 for Crean’s access to the database from June 1, 2010 to present.

At this time the information was fully reviewed and multiple questionable searches were discovered, according to the report.

The investigation showed that there were many more women, 693, searched than men, 213.

Some of the more prominent names Crean searched include Debra Jean Beasley (Debra LaFave), who was in the news at the time for a sexual relationship with a teen student; tennis player Anna Kournikova; and television newswoman Laura Moody.

In reference to LaFave, Kournikova and Moody, Crean said he was curious as to what their drivers’ license photos looked like, according to the report. He said that he did not have any dealings with any of them in a law enforcement capacity, according to investigators.

He searched co-workers on the force and their wives as well as other city employees including Joelle Castelli, the city spokeswoman.

Crean’s most searched names include:

Nicole Fairweather, a server at Mugs, who he searched 14 times:

“She was a server at Mugs where he and other officers would frequently go to eat. He said that he never had any dealings with her in a law enforcement capacity and could not explain why he would have queried her name 14 times other than possibly being curious as to what her (driver license) photos looked like.”

Meribeth Vinson, who he dated and searched 13 times:

“He acknowledged that he dated her for an unknown period of time. He said that he did not have any dealings with her in a law enforcement capacity and could not explain why he would have queried her name 13 times," according to the investigation.

Kristen Gregg, his current girlfriend, he searched 10 times:

“He said that he did not have any dealings with her in a law enforcement capacity and met her through a friend of Officer Cason. He could not explain why he would have queried her name 10 times," according to the report.

He also searched the database for his girlfriend’s mother so he could see what his girlfriend would look like in later years, he told investigators.

In his defense, Crean, who received positive evaluations, said this to investigators:

“I am a 22-year veteran at this Agency, and I haven't had any discipline in my career. I am and always have been an aggressive officer and a working sergeant. I enjoy doing case follow-up and aggressively assisting the officers with working cases. I've always tried to do the right thing. As for the misuse of the computer, I've never really received any formal training into the DAVID and, uh, we were initially told during our, uh, DAVID, uh, that we could use it randomly and for law enforcement purposes, obviously.

We never really received any direction up until recent about the use of DAVID. Uh, you know, during that — that brief training that we had, we were actually told to run people that we knew during the brief introduction we received many years ago. Um, as for the inquires I've made over the past two years, they were made for various reasons, with the majority being call-related; although, some were made outta curiosity, like you — like you said. Um, it was never my intention to receive any personal gain from any of these inquiries and — that I've made. And I never utilized the information for myself or anyone else. Um, it was never my intent to invade anyone's privacy with malice or ill will towards any other persons that I queried. And I just hope that, um, my entire career is considered and that, uh — and similar cases will be — receive equal treatment.”

He received above standard reviews including this note from a 2002 evaluation:

“Detective Crean always used all informational resources available to him to assist and complete investigations. He is very good at gathering information from the computer and has assisted me in teaching the new detectives about these information sources and their value.”

Searched By the Numbers:

Men: 213

Women: 693

Women age ranges searched:

18-23: 85

24-33: 290

34-43: 148

44-50: 102

49 and older: 68


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