Disabled Iowa trooper working as security guard
IOWA CITY — An Iowa trooper who was granted early retirement for mental stress after shooting a suspect during a high-speed chase continues to collect disability benefits while working as a school security guard, The Associated Press has found.
State law says retirement benefits received by disabled officers “shall cease” if they get another job in “public safety” or “protection” occupations. But Public Safety Commissioner Roxann Ryan said the dual compensation for Tim Sieleman is allowed because his security position with the Des Moines Public Schools isn’t considered such a job under the wording of the law.
The law lists several jobs that would end benefits for disabled retirees — from jailer to airport safety officer — but doesn’t mention school security work among them.
Sieleman, 48, has received a $42,000-annual pension since the board of the state officers’ retirement system found him “totally and permanently incapacitated for duty” due to mental stress in 2014. Despite that finding, he now works to help patrol the 70 school properties owned by Iowa’s largest district.
“As a taxpayer, I find that kind of outrageous,” said attorney Bill McGinn, who represented the suspect shot by Sieleman in 2013. “Somebody ought to look at it.”
McGinn said school security sounded like a “public safety” job to him.
The board that governs the retirement system can order medical exams annually to determine whether disabled officers have improved enough to return to work, but it hasn’t done so since granting Sieleman benefits three years ago. One trustee, retired trooper Gail Schwab, said he was unaware of Sieleman’s job but doubted the news would spur any action.
“We’re not going to finger somebody because we think he’s out here performing a job that he or she probably shouldn’t be doing in somebody’s opinion,” he said.
The board declined to order re-examinations of Sieleman and 16 other disabled retirees in 2015.