James Michel is pursuing legal action over a leaked memo that cost him an appointment as Commissioner of Erie County's Central Police Services. Michel, who is currently Lackawanna's Police Chief, says the memo was stolen from his personnel file.
"My legal actions are going to be that I'm going to be getting in touch with the Attorney General's Office and asking for a full investigation because obviously this stealing of personnel files is a criminal offense," Michel said.
Michel's attorney, Howard Cohen, says the probe should begin with County Legislator Joseph Lorigo. Cohen says he is not accusing Lorigo of stealing it, but he says it is an "inside" type of job.
"One of the things that we hope the investigation asks is where did Mr. Lorigo get this confidential stolen excerpt of the employment file. Because whoever gave it could very well be the person who stole it," Cohen said.
In the memo, Michel is accused of using derogatory language towards a female subordinate. Michel says he never used the language described and says he never saw the memo from 1999 until it was made public on Thursday.