Three Greene 911 officials accused of impeding investigation into woman’s death
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Three emergency services officials in Greene County are facing felony charges accusing them of withholding relevant documents to investigators who were looking into why a 911 operator refused to send an ambulance to a Sycamore woman who died hours later.
Robert “Jeff” Rhodes, Richard Policz and Gregory Leathers were arraigned July 21 after Greene County detectives accused them of providing incomplete records in response to a search warrant in July 2020 while they were investigating the death of Diania Kronk.
Leon Price, the 911 dispatcher who is accused of not sending an ambulance to Kronk’s home at the behest of the woman’s daughter, was charged with involuntary manslaughter and other counts June 27 in relation to Kronk’s death. Kronk, 54, died one day after Price allegedly declined to send help following a 911 call by her daughter, Kelly Titchenell, on July 1, 2020.
While investigating the situation days after the woman’s death, the district attorney’s detectives filed two search warrants asking for the “policies, procedures and directives” handed out to Greene County’s 911 dispatchers. What they received was only a partial package of documents, Greene County District Attorney David Russo said, and at least one whistleblower came forward to let investigators know there was more information typically given to dispatchers.
“We were given some information,” Russo said. “Later we found through a whistleblower who had come forward that the standard operating procedures and directives were not all the documents that were there.”
Former 911 dispatcher Denise Desmet spoke to investigators earlier this month and told them there were additional documents, emails and policy memos the staff was required to initial or sign and were placed in binders, according to court documents. Other whistleblowers confirmed her account and additional search warrants filed this month uncovered new documents not previously released.
The charging documents also claim the three men “attempted to defraud or injure Leon Price and/or Diania Kronk by excluding potential evidence used to determine the culpability of criminal charges.” Russo declined to elaborate on how Price would have been defrauded or injured, but he said more evidence would be presented during the trio’s preliminary hearing next month about how they allegedly impeded the investigation.
“We are alleging that they failed to comply with the court order of supplying all directives and standard operating procedures … at the time of Diania Kronk’s death,” Russo said of the three emergency officials.
According to the charges filed against Price, he declined to send an ambulance to Kronk’s house at her daughter’s request because it was unclear whether Kronk would consent to it. According to the 911 call, Titchenell tried to talk her mother into going to the hospital, but Price would not send an ambulance until he received confirmation from Kronk, who apparently was incoherent, turning yellow and bleeding. She died in her home 24 hours later.
At the time of the incident in July 2020, Rhodes served as the Greene County 911 coordinator, Policz was the department’s operations and training officer, and Leathers was the county’s emergency management director. Leathers has since left the county and is now Waynesburg’s mayor while Policz was elevated to emergency management director. Rhodes and Policz are still listed as county employees, but Greene County officials did not respond to phone calls inquiring about their status.
Lawrence Bolind Jr., the attorney for Titchenell who filed a federal lawsuit last month against Greene County, could not be reached for comment on the additional charges against the supervisors.
Rhodes, 54, and Policz, 51, both of Franklin Township, and Leathers, 61, of Waynesburg, face felony charges of tampering with public records and conspiracy, along with misdemeanor counts of evidence tampering, obstruction of justice and related conspiracy charges. Neither the three men nor their attorneys returned phone messages seeking comment.
District Judge Lee Watson released the men on $25,000 unsecured bond. Their preliminary hearing is tentatively scheduled for 10:15 a.m. Aug. 2.