Cleveland Police Officer Fired for Undisclosed Felony Convictions, Hells Angels Affiliation

On June 1, 2019 then-Cleveland Police officer Shawn David Lund Simmons was fired following an internal investigation which began in February after the City received a notification indicating that Simmons had a felony criminal record and had served prison time in the Kingdom of Norway, where he was associated with the Hells Angels motorcycle gang. Simmons had been on emergency restricted duty since early-February.

As seen in this footage, during his pre-disciplinary hearing Simmons denied being a member of the Hells Angels, stating that he was childhood friends with a member of the Hells Angels and that he rented a room to the friend as an adult — but has since had only sporadic contact with him. Simmons did not deny his criminal convictions and jail time, though he did claim to not recall one of his arrests.

Cleveland police became aware of his history after the city posted a photo of Simmons next to Mayor Frank Jackson on Facebook after Simmons was sworn in as a police officer. Shortly thereafter, Mats Bjørnstad, a police superintendent with KRIPOS, the National Criminal Investigation Service in Norway, spotted members of the Oslo Hells Angels commenting on the Facebook post. One of the comments (available in the supporting documentation) reads "When you think you've seen everything... from red to blue what the f***"

Bjørnstad immediately notified a contact at the ATF. According to an email from Officer Bjørnstad to Agent Jeremy Sheets, Simmons' convictions include aggravated assault, kidnapping, and extortion. Bjornstad wrote that "[Simmons] is well known to police for violence and connections to the Hells Angels," adding that Simmons trained the gang’s “crew boys” in mixed martial arts. “Not one you want in your ranks, believe me,” Bjornstad wrote.

EUROPOL confirmed the conviction allegations, which Simmons had failed to disclose in his employment application, in which he had marked "no" in response to questions asking if he had ever been arrested. Information regarding his conviction and jail time served had not been located during an intensive pre-employment background screening.

This is the recording of Simmons' pre-disciplinary hearing. It is also a particularly asinine example of the City of Cleveland's almost-certainly-illegal practice of blurring the faces of all police officers, as Mr. Simmons is certainly not going to be serving in an undercover or plainclothes capacity with the department, ever. (That potentiality is the City's only legal argument supporting redaction. It's a big stretch, and it has been addressed elsewhere. See below if you really feel like talking more about it.)

The complete internal affairs investigation report and supporting documentation, including the email from Bljørnstad alerting the ATF about Simmons, is available to supporters on Patreon. Thank you. [PayPal people, you all rock too. I wish there was an easy way to let you all in on these things.]

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More on the redaction issue:

Dearest viewers who want to tell me why the City of Cleveland may be knowingly breaking the law:

Whether or not a public body may withhold any portion of a public record is strictly a legal question. It is not a public policy question. You are not making a compelling argument by explaining the logic behind the City's actions. On the other hand, if you have a well-supported legal argument to make I want to hear it.

Because as far as I know, one doesn't exist.

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