SPRINGBORO — City Council members didn't know until after they hired their new police chief that the Michigan man was accused of illegally wiretapping an officer he supervised in Battle Creek.

        City Manager Wally Douthwaite said Wednesday he didn't inform council that Jeffrey Kruithoff was sued in federal court for the alleged violation until The Cincinnati Enquirer questioned city officials about Mr. Kruithoff's background last week.

        “Before the article hit the paper, I went to council. I said, "You need to know what more I found out,'” Mr. Douthwaite said.

        Even so, Mr. Douthwaite and Deputy Mayor Gary Hruska defended the appointment of Mr. Kruithoff, who starts April 15 — a little more than a year after he resigned under fire in Battle Creek involving allegations that he manipulated a police promotional exam.

        “There is nobody that has shown us he has done anything wrong. We are sticking by our decision,” Mr. Hruska said of the wiretapping case.

        Despite the lawsuit, allegations were never proven that Mr. Kruithoff authorized a “clone” pager to monitor a detective's calls, Mr. Hruska said. The case did not go to trial, but instead was settled last fall when the city of Battle Creek paid the officer $65,000.

        The 1998 federal complaint accuses Mr. Kruithoff of authorizing a sergeant to issue a clone pager in 1995 to determine whether Detective David Adams — a man whose wife Mr. Kruithoff admits to having an affair with — was tipping off drug dealers about investigations. The sergeant stopped the wiretapping after an FBI agent told him those actions could be criminal, court records show.

        Mr. Kruithoff, who was a deputy chief at the time, told the Enquirer he was aware of the wiretapping, but did not authorize it.

        Mr. Douthwaite met with police officers Wednesday to explain the city's decision to hire Mr. Kruithoff despite his controversial past.

        Mr. Douthwaite said the wiretapping allegations apparently did not surface in a background check conducted by the PAR Group executive search firm in Chicago. Council hired PAR to recruit and screen candidates.

        Chief in Battle Creek since 1996, Mr. Kruithoff resigned March 20, 2001, less than two weeks after he was placed on administrative leave following allegations that he destroyed citizen evaluations of officers who were passed over for promotion.

        Mr. Douthwaite and Mr. Kruithoff have discounted that controversy as political backlash involving personal conflicts with Battle Creek administrators.

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