By Jennifer Edwards and Dan Horn
Enquirer staff writers

The woman who had a 31/2-year affair with Hamilton County Prosecutor Mike Allen routinely came to work late, argued with co-workers, missed court assignments and broke office rules, according to her supervisors' records.

The records were released Friday in response to an Enquirer Freedom of Information request. They portray Rebecca Collins as an unreliable and disruptive assistant prosecutor who was warned often about her behavior but rarely punished.

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At one point, records show, her co-workers started a "Rebecca Watch" to monitor her tardiness to work.

"Prosecutors are angry about this," one supervisor noted in a March memo about complaints from other assistant prosecutors. "It is not fair that they play by the rules and (Collins) does not."

She was promoted early this year to a position her supervisor described as "coveted" in the juvenile division.

While many of the infractions in her file occurred this year, others took place from 2001 to 2003. Allen has said their affair lasted from December 1999 to August 2003.

Collins, 33, filed a federal sexual harassment lawsuit against Allen last week.

Collins' lawyer, Michael Moses, said his client's bosses never shared their complaints with her and never showed her the allegations in the records released Friday. He said she has asked to see the records and has been denied.

"This appears to just be an attempt to trash her reputation after she files a lawsuit," Moses said.

Allen has said the affair did not affect his job. Allen declined interview requests Friday.

Some of Allen's critics said the records raise questions about how Allen runs the office and, in particular, how he dealt with Collins' on-the-job problems.

"Why didn't the bosses at the prosecutor's office do something about it?" said County Commissioner Todd Portune.

When asked if Collins, who makes $43,800 a year, received special treatment, Allen's lawyer, Michael Hawkins, replied "not that I am aware of."

But Allen was asked to provide guidance to a supervisor in April 2003 on how to deal with persistent problems with Collins. The problems are outlined in an April 17, 2003, memo to Allen that describes Collins as "insubordinate."

"Rebecca Collins' tone and body language were combative and I believe her actions were insubordinate," wrote Rob Dziech, manager of the juvenile division.

Dziech complained that Collins "put her hands on her hips" and "swiveled her head backwards" when she confronted him about general complaints he had made about the work performance of assistant prosecutors in his office.

The memo also claims that Collins had botched a criminal case when she failed to enter a gun into evidence.

The memo concludes with a request from Dziech seeking "guidance" from Allen on how to proceed. The file contains no response from Allen and there is no indication Collins was disciplined.

In other memos, Dziech writes about repeated complaints from secretaries and fellow prosecutors about Collins' work. He also noted that her attitude affected her courtroom work and required her to take some cases to trial that others might have resolved with plea bargains.

"Public defenders are forcing her to go to trial because they do not like her," Dziech wrote in September 2003. "Other prosecutors report that they do not like picking up RC's cases because she bad mouths them about their handling of said cases."

A co-worker once took a personal day off because "she was sick of Rebecca."

Other notes in her file complain that she took documents home contrary to office policy and allowed her teenage son to handle confidential juvenile case files.

"Confidentiality in a legal setting should never be breached," Dziech wrote on Dec. 5, 2003. "(Her son) could easily run across the case of a kid he went to school with."

Moses said Collins received permission from Allen to bring her son to the office and denied the boy had access to confidential documents.

He also said Dziech and other supervisors were responsible for approving Collins' time sheets and could have docked her pay if they believed there was a problem.

Dziech could not be reached for comment, but a spokesman for the prosecutor's office said the records "speak for themselves."

Friday, Common Pleas Judge Robert Ruehlman questioned why Collins received no discipline for mishandling a case in his courtroom last year. He ordered her to write letters of apology to an elderly defendant and to the judge.

"It should have been in the file because I reprimanded her," Ruehlman said. "She absolutely got special treatment."

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E-mail jedwards@enquirer.com and dhorn@enquirer.com