He reportedly received an extra $40,000 in pay last year

By Michael Donoghue, Vermont News First

Veteran Burlington Police Lt. Michael P. Henry has resigned following five internal investigations, including one that questioned him getting overpaid by about $40,000 last year, Vermont News First was told on Friday.

Henry, 51, of Colchester reportedly has reimbursed the city for any overpayment.

Chittenden County State’s Attorney Sarah George has opted not to file any charges stemming from the five internal reports, officials said.

However, George did write a so-called Brady letter saying she would no longer accept criminal cases from Henry and said her office would refuse to use him as a witness.

Her office has begun to dismiss any cases Henry was involved in, George said in the Brady letter sent to Interim Police Chief Shawn Burke.

“The totality of the circumstances and allegations outlined in these investigations significantly undermines the State’s ability to rely on his testimony as a credible witness,” George wrote in the letter obtained by Vermont News First.

“Therefore, I am unwilling to call him as a witness and will not accept any criminal cases from him going forward,” she said.

George said in an automatic email response Friday that she was going to be out of the office for much of this week.

Attempts to reach Henry by Vermont News First were unsuccessful. He is still listed as a lieutenant on the Burlington Police website.

Henry began his public safety career as an emergency dispatcher with the Winooski Police and Fire Departments and later joined University of Vermont Police as a patrol officer. He jumped to South Burlington Police where he was eventually promoted to detective, but 15 years ago Henry moved to Burlington Police.

Henry was promoted to different ranks at Burlington Police and his work was honored through the years.

The city of Burlington put Henry on leave during the five internal investigations.

Most of the Burlington city administration was unavailable Friday to talk about the investigations, especially how Burlington, which has battled budget shortfalls in recent years, could pay an employee at extra $40,000 in a year and not notice it immediately.

Attempts to reach Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanek through her press office were unsuccessful.

Human Resources Manager Tim Clancy said the city would not release Henry’s final work date without getting a Vermont Public Records request.

The City Attorney’s Office, which handles public records, did not respond by the end of the workday Friday.

Deputy Chief of Staff Jen Monroe Zakares, who is the mayor’s communications director, said in a text late Friday afternoon she would not intervene.

Burke, responding to a separate public records request, said he would be unavailable for the next week and said a deputy chief would respond to the inquiry. There was no response to the requested phone call.

George, in a letter to local defense lawyers, shared a copy of the Brady letter for Henry.

“The attorneys in my office are reviewing any cases that he is a necessary witness for and will dismiss those cases if they have not already. If you have one that we may have missed please let the assigned attorney know so they can review it,” she told the defense lawyers.

George, in her separate letter to Burke about Henry, said she had a half dozen “significant concerns that call into question both his credibility and competency as a law enforcement officer.”

She cited multiple policy violations related to a case “that negatively impact the prosecution of this serious felony case.”

She went on to issue other issues. They include:

• “Allegations related to shift supervision and neglect of duty that impacts the quality of cases being sent to our office for prosecution.”

• “Confronting a witness (and subordinate) in one of the internal investigations which he was the subject of, about her statements against him.”

• Despite overwhelming evidence that Lt. Henry knowingly received substantial and recurring overpayments for approximately one year, with individual overpayments reaching thousands of dollars per pay period and resulting in compensation levels that would be readily apparent to a reasonable employee, Lt. Henry made multiple statements that are directly contradicted by this evidence.”

• Concerns related to Lt. Henry’s ability to adequately prepare for, and credibly execute, trial testimony. This concern has been raised by our office with prior administrations, and our concerns have only become more significant over time.

• “Concerns over accurate and truthful information being disseminated in press releases.”