Jail Guard Suspected Of Forging Signatures

Paperwork Authorized His Training Trip

A Prince George's County jail guard has been suspended and is under investigation for allegedly forging supervisors' signatures on paperwork that allowed him to attend a training course in New Mexico on how to deal with suicide bombers.

Cpl. Michael T. Gaylor was suspended with pay March 23 and is the subject of an investigation, said Michon Parker, a spokeswoman for the county Department of Corrections. She declined to comment on the substance of the probe, describing it as a personnel matter.

A jail employee, speaking on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak publicly, said Gaylor is suspected of forging the signatures of about five supervisors to obtain authorization to attend the training course.

Efforts to find a telephone number for Gaylor were unsuccessful.

Lt. Curtis Knowles, president of the Prince George's Correctional Officers Association, said he had not spoken with Gaylor about the investigation and had no comment on it.

The training course, paid for by a federal grant from the Department of Homeland Security, took place March 16-20 at New Mexico Tech in Socorro, according to officials with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which administered the grant.

Gaylor was one of 10 officers from Prince George's approved for the program, said Terry Monrad, acting press secretary for FEMA. Gaylor was the only one who attended, Monrad said. The spokesman said he did not know which agencies the others belonged to.

The jail source said the other nine officers were also county corrections officers. It was unclear whether Gaylor was being investigated for forging paperwork on behalf of the other nine officers. Monrad said the paperwork for Gaylor and the other Prince George's officers appeared legitimate, and he referred questions on the investigation to county officials.

The training was geared toward emergency response officers, Monrad said. Gaylor had been a member of the jail's emergency response team until earlier this year, when he was removed from the unit and put on regular guard duty, according to the jail source and Knowles.

Members of the team respond to serious fights, breakouts from jail cells and other major incidents. They are the only officers at the jail authorized to carry weapons.

The investigation and suspension were first reported by WJLA-TV (Channel 7).