A Covington firefighter resigned Wednesday evening after a roughly five-hour public hearing called to address his numerous violations of city and departmental policy, including “entertaining” multiple women at Covington firehouses and “aggressive, unprofessional” behavior while on the job.
Jordan Warner joined the fire department in May 2013.
Prior to joining the department, he served in the U.S. Marines, putting out fires on air bases. After being honorably discharged, he volunteered as a firefighter before eventually getting hired on professionally in Covington in 2013.
City investigative documents and testimony during the hearing laid out the charges against Warner. At the time of the hearing, Warner had racked up a long list of disciplinary charges stemming from alleged instances of insubordination, improper use of fire facilities and equipment, acting aggressively and disrespectfully to other firefighters, first responders, and city staff members and generally being difficult to get along with.
Most prominently, however, is charges related to Warner’s habit of “entertaining,” as the charge documents put it, at least two women – one of whom was an 18-year-old high school student – at Covington firehouses.
The first instance of said “entertaining” is attested in a complaint Fire Chief Corey Deye, who assumed the role of chief earlier this year, received on April 17 from the Kentucky Fire Commission. Two people, whose complete names were not given either in city documents or during Wednesday’s testimonials, had complained to the commission about an incident that occurred on April 16, wherein Warner allegedly invited an 18-year-old female high school student (the exact school is not mentioned) to Fire Company 6 in Peaselburg.
One of the people making the complaints was the young woman’s boyfriend, who found text messages between the woman and Warner in which “Engineer Warner invited the young female to ‘drink’ and ‘have sex’ at the firehouse,” according to city documents.
The boyfriend then tracked down both Warner and the young woman at the firehouse, where he confronted other fire employees who happened to be there.
“After some time, the young female exited the firehouse and according to [complainant 1] who arrived with [the boyfriend], the female was ‘completely drunk not wearing anything but a firefighters hoodie,'” city documents state.
Surveillance footage captured the young woman arriving at the firehouse around 8 p.m. on April 16, where she embraced (but did not kiss) Warner outside of the firehouse before entering the building. Footage later shows her leaving the building around 9:25 p.m., wearing a Covington Fire uniform sweatshirt. The city’s legal department played the surveillance videos during the hearing. Whether or not Warner and the woman actually had sex is unknown. The fire department was also unable determine with certainty if they consumed alcohol. The woman did not attend the hearing.
Deye contacted the boyfriend and the other complainant the same day they made the complaint and launched an internal affairs investigation.
About a week after the first instance occurred, on April 21, Warner invited two other women, whose ages and identities are not given, to Fire Company 2 in West Covington.
The first, “Warner’s on again off again girlfriend and her foster baby,” according to city documents, visited Warner for about 30 minutes, staying in firehouse’s communal area. He was, in fact, not charged for this instance because the woman stayed in the firehouse’s common area.
Another woman, who arrived later in the evening, was taken “to the bunk room to watch television.” City documents state that Warner later said that the woman had spent the visit sitting on the recliner in the bunk room, that she had been in the firehouse for about 35 minutes, and that he could not, when asked, “recall the last name of the young female.”
City documents go on to elicit other instances during Warner’s tenure as a firefighter where co-workers characterized Warner’s behavior as “aggressive, unprofessional and creat[ing] an environment where fellow employees of the City feared for their personal safety.”
Such instances include the following:
- On Nov. 8, 2023, Warner became upset during an EMS run during a disagreement about whether to take a patient’s wheelchair with them to the hospital, which prompted Warner to call the other firefighter a “piece of s***.”
- On Dec. 27, 2023, Warner became aggressive when an employee became sick, forcing Warner to work overtime. According to city documents, Warner became upset, calling the firefighter a “a little b****” and a “little fat f***.” The employee later requested not to work with Warner in the future. Documents indicate the employee was “hesitant to a give a statement about these events due to concerns or retaliation against him or his family from Engineer Warner.”
- On Jan. 13, 2024, Warner brought a BB gun to Fire Company 8 and aimed it at other fire employees. One firefighter took a photo of the incident showing “Warner with the BB gun pointed at the employee’s back and didn’t appear to have control over the BB gun. The incident made the members concerned due to Warner’s past conduct.” The photo itself was not given in LINK’s records request and was not shown at the hearing.
- On Jan. 20, 2024, Warner became angry during another EMS run when confusion arose among the first responders on the scene about a patient’s medication history and how it might have contributed to the patient’s “altered mental status.” Warner became upset by what he viewed as the other first-responders’ slowness to act, calling one of the firefighters a “‘piece of s***.’ This incident happened in front of the patient’s family.”
- On April 16, 2024, the same day when Warner allegedly brought the 18-year-old to the firehouse, Warner became upset on another EMS run, in which he described one of the other first responders as a “‘f****** idiot.’ While this was going on, the employee was putting the patient onto the cot for transport. The employee involved in this incident described Engineer Warner’s behavior as erratic, aggressive and threatening. The employee also indicated that Engineer Warner’s conduct was distracting to patient care.”
The city’s statement of charges describes the testimonies of other fire and city employees gathered during the investigation.
“Over the course of the investigation, numerous employees described Engineer Warner as a bully, someone who easily loses his temper, erratic, threatening, unprofessional, intimidating and distracting to patient care,” city documents state. “Several firefighters have expressed concerns for their safety while working with Engineer Warner, to the extent that some do not want to sleep in the same bunk room with him. Several firefighters fear to go ‘on the record’ to discuss other incidents they have witnessed or experienced firsthand, out of fear of personal retaliation by Engineer Warner and fear that he may retaliate against their family members.”
Warner was placed on paid leave on April 24 following a meeting at Fire Company 6. He was directed not to contact any city employee other than executive board members of Covington’s fire union. Warner violated this within 10 minutes of the meeting when he texted a city employee he believed contributed an interview statement to the investigation, according to city documents. Two days later, on April 26, he texted another city employee asking for that employee’s lawyer’s contact information.
On May 24, Chief Deye demoted Warner from the rank of engineer back to a regular firefighter and suspended him without pay for seven days. Deye’s reprimand states that any future policy violations would result in immediate termination.
Things were quiet until Aug. 16, when the city alleges Warner was openly insubordinate during an EMS run that took place in Mainstrasse. Warner was working with an ambulance crew for the run with Paramedic Nick Martini, who served as a witness at Wednesday’s hearing. Confusion arose as to the crew’s location in relation to a fire truck crew who had arrived at the scene earlier.
Fire Fighters Brandon Padilla, Ben Bonifilio (who outranked Warner) and Engineer Brett Hodorowski were manning the fire truck that night. Several police officers, one of whom testified on Wednesday, were also there.
According to city documents, even after meeting up with the fire crew and beginning to tend to a patient, documents state “Firefighter Warner continued to argue about their whereabouts with acting Lieutenant Bonfilio. During this exchange, Firefighter Warner told Lieutenant Bonfilio, his supervisor, that they were ‘f****** behind [the Strasse Haus]’ and witnesses indicate that Firefighter Warner called his acting supervisor a moron. In response to this comment, Lieutenant Bonfilio attempted to end the exchange by telling Firefighter Warner ‘I’m not starting with you.’ In response, Firefighter Warner told his acting supervisor Lieutenant Bonfilio, ‘That’s cause you’re r*******.'”
Other documents allege that Warner told Bonifilio to “shut the f*** up!”
Bonifilio later made a complaint about Warner’s behavior, and Warner underwent another disciplinary meeting in September. On Nov. 8, Deye recommended Warner’s termination. Rather than accept further discipline, Warner requested a hearing in front of the elected commission members, which is allowed under Kentucky law.
In public disciplinary hearings, the city’s legal department, in this case, city attorneys Frank Schultz and Sheree Weichold, act in a role similar to a prosecuting attorney. Warner retained his own defense, Louisville-based attorney Peter Jannace, who also works with Covington’s fire union. Meanwhile, the city commission contracts with an independent attorney to advise on the proceedings. Attorney Brandon Voelker served this role Wednesday night.
Although the conventional standards of evidence one finds in a trial courtroom don’t apply in such hearings, representatives from either side are allowed to call and cross-examine witnesses. Commissioners can also ask witnesses questions.
The city called multiple witnesses to the stand, and much of the testimony focused on establishing the details of both the woman’s visit to the firehouse in April as well as the EMS run in August, which prompted Warner’s most recent disciplinary charge.
Jannace made a motion at the beginning of the hearing to close it to the public, but Mayor Joe Meyer and the other commissioners denied this motion, arguing a disciplinary hearing for a public safety employee was a matter of the public interest and should, therefore, remain open to public scrutiny.
Both parties agreed to sequester the witnesses, meaning the witnesses weren’t allowed to be in the room when the other witnesses gave their testimonies.
As it related to the EMS run in August, there was some disagreement among the witnesses about the details of the night. Police Officer Sean Sinacori, who contributed body cam footage to the investigation, could not speak to many of the details of the night as he didn’t stick around for the full length of the incident.
Martini, who was working the ambulance with Warner, could not speak to whether or not Warner uttered the insults he was accused of saying, although he and the other witnesses did attest to Warner mentioning he was worried he might get in trouble.
None of the witnesses claimed to have witnessed physical violence during the EMS run.
Bonifilio, Padilla, and Hodorowski, the fire crew, were generally on the same page regarding the events of the incident. Padilla said he didn’t hear exactly what was said, but Hodoroski attested to Warner’s use of the words “f****” and “r*****.” He admitted, however, there was some disagreement among the crew members to details of the facts in the ride back immediately after the incident.
“The disagreement we had was [Bonifilio] thought that Jordan said he was ‘r*******’ and then called him a ‘moron,'” said Hodorowski. “And I said, ‘No, it was the other way around.'”
Warner eventually took the stand, where he denied many of the charges against him both for the EMS run and the visitations to the firehouses.
When Schultz asked Warner if he told Bonifilio to ‘shut the f**** up,’ Warner replied, “I did not say that.”
“You heard the testimony from earlier from acting lieutenant Bonifilio?” Schultz asked.
“Yes,” Warner said.
“So, you’re claiming that he was lying?” Schultz said.
“Yes,” Warner said.
“You heard the testimony from Engineer Brett Hodorowski, right?” Schultz said.
“Yes,” Warner said.
“And you’re claiming that he was lying?” said Schultz.
“Yes,” Warner said.
Warner went on to deny he used the word ‘r*******,’ even though he said he didn’t believe there was any kind of conspiracy among the fire crew to discredit him.
City Commissioner and Mayor-elect Ron Washington had questions about the young woman who visited Warner at Fire Company 6.
“What was the relationship between you and the 18-year-old?” Washington asked.
Warner said that he’d only just met the woman. Washington then asked about where the woman went when he was in the firehouse, and Warner said she spent most of her time at a desk where she could charge her phone. Warner stated the other firefighters at the firehouse didn’t know she was there, although he said he’d received permission to entertain a visitor at the firehouse.
Washington asked about how the woman got there and how she got home. He also asked how they met.
“Where did you meet her?” Washington asked.
“At the Kroger in Latonia,” Warner said.
“Did you know how old she was?” Washington asked.
“She told me she was 19,” Warner said.
Warner later stated he was 39 when he first met the woman.
Much of the defense’s case rested on the argument that Warner had been unfairly targeted for disciplinary action, so much so that it triggered his mental health problems. Warner said he’d developed PTSD, anxiety and that he suffered from panic attacks following his experiences in the military. He’d also spent 32 days at an inpatient mental health facility in Maryland in 2021.
The commissioners didn’t seem to find this line of argumentation convincing, especially given the fact that many of the mental health problems he’d exhibited dated back to a time before his disciplinary charges began to accrue. Warner admitted, as well, that he never requested accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
As Jannace, Voelker and the commissioners were discussing the legal ramifications of Warner’s mental illness, Warner grew increasingly more nervous about the whole exchange.
Finally, he said, “I’m done,” on the witness stand and refused to answer more questions about his mental health.
Chief Deye was the final witness to take the stand. He laid out the department’s case against Warner, stating that his behavior was a bad reflection on the department and the city itself.
“Do you believe that Jordan Warner’s conduct is representative of the men and women of the Covington Fire Department?” Weichold asked Deye.
“I do not,” Deye said. “There has been lots of talk of [how] firemen do speak differently, but we don’t speak differently in public. We should not be speaking differently in public. As a Covington firefighter, you’re held to a very high standard. The citizens we protect demand a very high standard, and they should. This is not a good representation of what this department and city stands for. And if he comes back, a lot of people are afraid to work with him.”
The defense had planned to call up their own round of witnesses, but after a long recess, the parties returned to the hearing where Warner asked to tender his resignation, effective immediately, and accept all charges rather than continue. The commissioners unanimously cast votes to accept this.
Washington expressed concern that Warner’s behavior could continue for as long as it did before it came before the elected city government.
“The first allegation, the first charges that we heard, they never reached this body,” said Washington. “I’ve worked on this board for a while with the people up here. I’m not sure that if this was brought before this body, this first group of charges, that we’d be sitting here now. I don’t think there would be a second set.”
Meyer said that being part of the Covington Fire Department was a “remarkable privilege.” He added that the commission wanted to continue cultivating discipline and good behavior among the firefighters.
“It’s in the best interest of our people,” Meyer said.
If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health, call the National Mental Health Hotline at 866-903-3787. Veterans who need help can call 988 and press 1 for specific crisis help from the Veterans Crisis Line.