WILMINGTON — The City of Wilmington placed Wilmington Police Department Detective Scott Baker and Patrol Officer Elliott Sylvester on paid administrative leave on Tuesday.

“The city is in the process of identifying an external investigator for this matter,” stated City Administrator Greg Muenchen in a news release Wednesday morning.

He added that, since this is a pending investigation, the city could not release any additional information at this time.

Recent history

It was about three years ago that four WPD employees were placed on administrative leave pending investigations — internally as well as by the Ohio Attorney General’s Office: two patrol officers who eventually resigned; the chief detective who later resigned/retired; and a WPD administrative assistant who is no longer with the city.

Then-Police Chief Duane Weyand, who was not the subject of any investigations, retired as chief in March 2019, and longtime WPD officer Ron Cravens was named chief.

Cravens recently retired as chief; Sgt. Neil Rager is serving as Interim Chief.