As part of an investigation into alleged human trafficking and prostitution at a spa in West Ocean City, two Maryland State Police troopers went undercover as patrons in September They were told to decline any sexual acts offered by the employees.
But one of them, Cpl. David Grinnan, engaged in a sexual act, after taking a pill for erectile dysfunction outside the spa, according to an internal investigation conducted by the Maryland State Police.
By March , an Internal Affairs sergeant recommended four administrative charges be sustained against Grinnan β prohibited sexual behavior on-duty, insubordination, immoral conduct and unbecoming conduct β according to a page investigative file obtained through a Maryland Public Information Act request. Instead, about seven months later, the agency sustained just one policy violation against him β a conduct unbecoming offense that led to a demotion in rank and an unpaid, day suspension, an October personnel order shows.
Butler Jr. Grinnan declined to comment for this article through an attorney who also represented him during the internal investigation. That attorney, John Doud, also declined to comment. The agency has made headlines over the firing of a Trooper of the Year based on a dispute over the location of a traffic stop and for permitting a corporal to retire, rather than be terminated, after the man sent a racist meme following the police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
More recently, the agency abruptly transferred most , if not all, of its Internal Affairs investigators to new assignments at barracks across the state. Before Grinnan and the other trooper went undercover Sept. The evidence the initial three gathered was sufficient to prepare a search warrant, according to the Internal Affairs report, but task force officers opted to send in two additional officers. That way, they figured, the employees inside could be taken into custody immediately. That final operation was marred by inappropriate remarks by Grinnan before, during and after the operation, according to the Internal Affairs investigators, who interviewed witnesses, primarily fellow state police troopers.
