YOUNGSTOWN — An arbitrator ordered Youngstown to reinstate Brian Flynn, fired in December 2022 as a police lieutenant after being accused of dereliction of duty, with the city planning to appeal the ruling.

Arbitrator Jerry B. Sellman determined that the city should have suspended Flynn for two weeks without pay “in light of certain mitigating circumstances and the employer’s progressive disciplinary procedures.”

Sellman ordered Flynn be reinstated with no loss in seniority or benefits and with back pay though that amount should be offset by any compensation he’s received since his firing. Flynn was hired in September 2023 by the village of Poland as a police officer.

Sellman determined Flynn “did engage in conduct that constituted neglect of duty, conduct unbecoming, incompetence and violations of standards of conduct for supervisors, managers and administrators,” but the city shouldn’t have fired him.

In response to Sellman’s decision, the city law department said, “Mr. Flynn has not been rehired. We are disappointed with the ruling and plan to file an appeal. Given the pending nature of the ongoing litigation, we will have no further comment on this matter.”

Under state law, the city would have to seek an appeal in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court to vacate Sellman’s decision contending he exceeded his powers “or so imperfectly executed them that a mutual, final and definite award upon the subject matter submitted was not made.”

Flynn was fired in December 2022 after an investigation of allegations that he failed to assign detectives to about 24 referrals from the Ohio Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force involving alleged child abuse and child pornography cases.

Flynn was the head of the Family Investigative Services Unit, now called the Special Victims Unit.

Before his firing, Flynn was on paid administrative leave for more than 20 months.

A criminal investigation was conducted by Detective Brian Breeden of the Summit County Sheriff’s Office at the request of Jeff Limbian, then the Youngstown law director. Breeden turned over his investigation to the Youngstown Law Department, which filed the 14 misdemeanor counts in October 2022 in city municipal court.

Paul Siegferth, who was Flynn’s attorney in that case, filed a motion to dismiss contending the city prosecutor’s office failed to prove at a May 2023 hearing that no information from the police department’s internal affairs investigation was used in the criminal investigation of Flynn.

Breeden testified during a May 2023 hearing that he didn’t consider any of the internal affairs information in his investigation, but Siegferth argued the city failed to prove it didn’t use it.

Visiting Judge Mark Frost agreed and dismissed the case a month later.

A U.S. Supreme Court ruling — Garrity v. New Jersey — prohibits the use in a criminal matter of any “compelled statement” taken from a public employee during an internal affairs investigation.

The 7th District Court of Appeals in March 2024 ruled against the city, which appealed Frost’s decision, saying the judge’s ruling “in this case was the proper remedy.”

Sellman wrote in his decision that there is no dispute that Flynn “intentionally failed to act upon or follow-through on” the referrals from the Ohio Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.

He wrote: “The arbitrator does not find from the evidence that (Flynn) purposefully flouted his duties to enforce the law. He clearly made incorrect assumptions and his reliance on those assumptions resulted in his violation of” city police rules.

In one case, Sellman wrote, a juvenile was sexually abused for more than 18 months before a county sheriff intervened and the perpetrator was arrested. Another case, Sellman wrote, involved six victims with the suspect sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Sellman wrote considering Flynn’s 26-year career and “his unfounded, yet mistaken, belief that others were handling” the cybertips as well as the lack of oversight from the state agency, he should be suspended without pay for two weeks, which was the initial decision of the city before filing criminal charges.

Sellman wrote the city’s contract with the police ranking officers union calls for progressive discipline. The city contends that policy doesn’t apply if the conduct is serious.