Sheriff's deputy suspended during relationship probe
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Associated Press - Published: April 9, 2008
NEWFANE — Windham County's top sheriff's deputy has been suspended while the state police investigate charges she had an improper relationship with a 17-year-old Brattleboro Union High School student, said Sheriff Keith Clark.
Sheriff Capt. Heidi Nelson, 42, who teaches law enforcement classes and serves as the school's resource officer, was suspended on Friday with pay.
"I think it's vital to ensure that the student, the student's family, the career center, the members of the department, the public and Captain Nelson can trust that I am doing everything possible to protect everyone concerned as these investigations move forward, the facts are determined and the truth of the situation becomes known," Clark said during a Monday news conference.
Clark was joined at the news conference by Brattleboro School Superintendent Ron Stahley, and David Coughlin, the acting director of the Windham Regional Career Center, which is based at the high school.
Efforts to reach Nelson on Tuesday were unsuccessful.
Neither Clark nor Stahley would say much about the alleged relationship, whether it was a consensual, whether it was with a male or female student or how it came to the attention of authorities.
Nelson, of Westminster, was a 17-year veteran of the Vermont State Police before she left to run a private gym in Bellows Falls. She was first hired by the sheriff's department by former Sheriff Sheila Prue. When Clark became sheriff last year he promoted Nelson to be his second in command.
Clark asked the state police to investigate. Vermont State Police Col. James Baker said an investigator from a different part of the state had already been assigned to the Nelson case.
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Information from: Rutland Herald, http://www.rutlandherald.com/
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