The Infamous Ex-Chief

The Infamous Ex-Chief
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The Infamous Ex-Chief is a hard-hitting podcast that exposes corruption, misconduct, and failures within the justice system without pulling punches. Hosted by a former police chief who believes in real accountability, this show dives deep into wrongful convictions, prosecutorial overreach, and law enforcement leadership gone wrong. Each episode dissects cases that don’t add up, challenges flawed investigations, and brings hidden truths to light. We are pro-police, not pro-corruption, because justice should be about facts, not politics. Join Tentacle Nation as we uncover the stories they don’t want you to hear. Available on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, and Rumble.

  1. 5d ago

    Creston Fiscal Officer Case Update: Ohio Court of Claims Mediation Explained

    Send us Fan Mail A listener asked the question I get more than any other: does any of this reporting actually lead anywhere, or is it just content? So I answered it directly, using the Creston, Ohio fiscal officer case as the example. Here's what's confirmed on the record. The Village of Creston has never given a public explanation for why their fiscal officer was disciplined or why she ultimately left. What exists is a written warning, a hearing process that raised real statutory questions, and a personnel file with a documented chain of custody problem. What's missing is the internal communication that would explain the rest, because the village hasn't produced it. I don't fill that gap with rumor. I file public records requests under Ohio Revised Code 149.43, which come with statutory deadlines attached. When a village misses that deadline, or hands back records that don't add up, that's not speculation, that's the village's own conduct becoming the story. This matter is now in mediation in the Ohio Court of Claims between me and the Village of Creston over records production. That means I have to be careful what I say publicly while mediation is active, not because there's nothing to say, but because the wrong words in the wrong venue can undercut a legal process built to get real answers. I also address where things stand with the Valley Forge school shooting records fight, another case people assume went quiet. It didn't. This is what public records accountability journalism actually looks like in Ohio: slow, methodical, and built on a paper trail instead of a news cycle. More investigations, document drops, and case updates: www.theinfamousexchief.com Be loud. Be heard. Shake the system until the truth falls out. Support the show Visit: https://www.liinks.co/the.infamous.exchief

    Creston Fiscal Officer Case Update: Ohio Court of Claims Mediation Explained

  2. 5d ago

    Chardon Pro-Se Chardon Pro-Se: He Took a Skydiving Association to the Supreme Court

    Send us Fan Mail A whistleblower complaint to the FAA. A membership revoked over a phone call. Five years of self-represented litigation, a $45,000 sanctions order, and now a petition to the United States Supreme Court built partly on an allegation that a court transcript was altered. Scott Gardner sits down with the man known online as "Chardon Pro Se" to walk through the entire paper trail, the USPA governance manual, the board meeting minutes, and the moment a magistrate allegedly said on the record that the court believed there was fraud in his case, right before ruling against him. Every Ohio court that has ruled on this case has ruled against him. This episode lays out the record so you can decide where that leaves things.  Full documents at theinfamousexchief.com. Support the show Visit: https://www.liinks.co/the.infamous.exchief

    Chardon Pro-Se Chardon Pro-Se: He Took a Skydiving Association to the Supreme Court

  3. Aug 7

    Jeffrey Deskovic: Wrongfully Convicted at 16, Exonerated by DNA After 16 Years

    Send us Fan Mail Jeffrey Deskovic was 16 years old when police put him through a six to seven hour polygraph session with no attorney and no parent in the room. The man running that session later testified in court, under oath, that his method had a name: GTC. Get The Confession. The DNA from the crime scene excluded him. The hair comparison excluded him. The jury convicted him anyway, and Deskovic spent the next 16 years in prison for a crime he didn't commit. In this episode, Deskovic walks through exactly how a wrongful conviction happens from the inside: how a prosecutor gets a jury past physical evidence that doesn't match, what a medical examiner "suddenly remembered" right after the DNA results came back clean, and how a conflict of interest with his own public defender may have kept key evidence out of his trial entirely. We also cover his history with Jeanine Pirro's office fighting his access to further DNA testing, and why he later testified against Sonia Sotomayor's Supreme Court confirmation over an appellate ruling that cost him seven more years behind bars. Deskovic was freed by DNA testing in 2006. He's now an attorney running the Jeffrey Deskovic Foundation for Justice, which has helped free 15 wrongfully convicted people and passed 9 laws aimed at preventing this from happening to someone else. What you'll hear in this episode: How a false confession gets built out of information fed to a suspect over six weeksWhy DNA and hair exclusion didn't stop a convictionThe prosecutorial and judicial decisions that kept Deskovic in prison through seven denied appealsWhat it took to finally get exonerated in 2006How the Deskovic Foundation decides which wrongful conviction cases to takeSupport Jeffrey's work:  Jeffrey Deskovic Foundation for Justice  Website: https://www.deskovicfoundation.org/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/deskovicfoundation/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thejeffreydeskovicfoundation/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@jeffdeskovicfoundation More investigations at theinfamousexchief.com Support the show Visit: https://www.liinks.co/the.infamous.exchief

    Jeffrey Deskovic: Wrongfully Convicted at 16, Exonerated by DNA After 16 Years

  4. Jul 31

    The Worst Kept Secret in Rocky River, Ep. 5: The Reckoning (Series Finale)

    Send us Fan Mail Five episodes. One case. A question nobody in authority has answered. In the finale of "The Worst Kept Secret in Rocky River," we trace what happened after former Rocky River police officer Michael Bernhardt's indictment — the third victim's attorney who called BCI the day the indictment dropped, the collapse from six warrants alleging rape and kidnapping down to three database misdemeanors, the sentencing where a judge told Bernhardt "you were basically living two lives," and the judicial release granted after less than 30 days served. We go inside the BCI interview room. We lay out the DROP payout timeline. We document who at Rocky River received Special Prosecutor Michael Maloney's written recommendation to charge Bernhardt — and did nothing with it. We also examine the record of Rocky River's Law Director, Michael O'Shea, separate from anything alleged about Bernhardt himself. This is not a political statement. It's a description of what the documents show. Four agencies were given the chance to answer specific questions before this published. One did. Three didn't. If you have information about this case, the tip form is at www.theinfamousxchief.com. Anonymous tips welcome. Be loud. Be heard. Shake the system until the truth falls out. Support the show Visit: https://www.liinks.co/the.infamous.exchief

    The Worst Kept Secret in Rocky River, Ep. 5: The Reckoning (Series Finale)

  5. Jul 24

    You're Almost an Adult | Rocky River SRO Case 2023-2700 | Ep. 4

    Send us Fan Mail She came forward on her own. Saw the news coverage, recognized what had happened to her, and made the call. What happened next is what this episode is about. Case 2023-2700 is the second victim's case. A graduating senior at Rocky River High School. Michael Bernhardt was her SRO during her senior year. When BCI investigators asked him about his Snapchat username, he gave them ponch6514. The warrant return for this case documents a different account called Bernie that he never mentioned. In that same interview, he acknowledged managing that account specifically so his wife would not find out. When asked to describe what was happening between him and an enrolled student, he said they were romantically linked. He also told her she was almost an adult. He had been a member of ICAC. His entire training was built around identifying adults who exploit the apparent consent of young people. He knew what the law said. ORC Section 2907.03(7) makes sexual conduct between a school authority figure and an enrolled student sexual battery regardless of age. That statute does not say unless she is almost 18. On January 10, 2024, BCI Chief Legal Counsel Zahid Siddiqi directed Special Agent Heather Karl not to pursue the second victim's case independently, citing a prior legal determination by special prosecutor Michael Maloney. The woman who drove to Maloney's office with a written statement was turned away by the secretary. Her statement was never taken. Maloney still concluded insufficient grounds for criminal charges. I asked everyone in that decision chain to explain the outcome on the record. Nobody answered the question I asked. This episode also covers the Westlake Library, corroborated by Cellebrite analysis and location tracking. The guilt Bernhardt carried for years and what he spent it on. And what his mother said when she first heard the news. www.theinfamousexchief.com Support the show Visit: https://www.liinks.co/the.infamous.exchief

    You're Almost an Adult | Rocky River SRO Case 2023-2700 | Ep. 4

  6. Jul 21

    Ohio Cops Are Reading the Body Camera Fee Law Wrong.

    Send us Fan Mail Garrettsville PD billed me $225 for body camera footage. Their own  CAD records show approximately 57 minutes of combined on-scene time  across both incidents. Ohio Revised Code 149.43(B)(1) caps body  camera fees at $75 per hour of video produced — not per hour of  labor, not per hour of staff time. Per hour of video produced. At  that rate, 57 minutes of footage has a maximum lawful fee of about  $71.25. I was charged $225. Before anything else: the officers who worked these calls did their  jobs right. A noise complaint resolved with a warning. A welfare  check that got someone to a hospital. No problem with any of that.  This is a records and transparency question only. I paid the $225 anyway — I'm not letting a fee dispute be the reason  this footage sits in a drawer. I filed two challenge letters on July  19 contesting the exemption basis and the rate calculation. On July  21 I sent a formal inquiry to the Ohio Attorney General's Sunshine  Laws unit asking one question: does $75 per hour mean per hour of  footage length or per hour of labor? No Ohio court has answered that  yet. This law took effect April 2025. The ACLU of Ohio challenged an identical fee in the Village of  Brewster on the same grounds. NBC4 Columbus reported in October 2025  that legal experts identified this as a statewide misreading of the  statute. The footage is paid for. The challenges are active. The AG  has been notified. When this gets answered, you'll see it here first. PRR filed under Ohio Revised Code 149.43. Pro-Police. Not Pro-Corruption. Be loud. Be heard. Shake the system until the truth falls out. Support the show Visit: https://www.liinks.co/the.infamous.exchief

    Ohio Cops Are Reading the Body Camera Fee Law Wrong.

  7. Jul 17

    Rocky River Ep. 3 The Worst Kept Secret | Whistleblower Never Interviewed, ICAC Bombshell, What the Department Knew

    Send us Fan Mail Episode 3 of The Worst-Kept Secret, an ongoing investigation into Rocky River Police Department SRO Michael Bernhardt, covers what the department knew, when they knew it, and what everyone around Bernhardt did or failed to do with that information. Bernhardt's second wife, a 30-year special education coordinator at Rocky River High School, describes going to the superintendent in person to report her husband. The official administrative leave letter signed by Chief Lichtman described her as an anonymous faculty member. She then drove to special prosecutor Michael Maloney's law office in Westlake with a written statement. His secretary could not accept it. She called back multiple times over the following weeks. The investigation was filed without her formal account. Bernhardt's first wife, a police officer with 19 years at Fairview Park PD, sat down with BCI agents in July 2024 and described what she believes the department knew going back over 20 years. She believes Chief Lichtman knew something was happening at the library overtime shifts where Bernhardt first encountered the first victim. Lichtman denies any knowledge prior to 2023. Both accounts are on the record. An informal determination made within the department in the early 2000s, that Bernhardt had committed no crime due to a lack of physical contact, was legally wrong under ORC 2907.03(A)(7). No one with actual legal authority ever reviewed it. Bernhardt remained the Rocky River SRO for 20 more years. Bernhardt and Lichtman both served on the internet crimes against children task force. Bernhardt's role was to pose online and engage with predators. His first wife's assessment, stated plainly to BCI agents in July 2024: little did we know he was one. The special prosecutor's file went to the city with an open question about seizing Bernhardt's phone for forensic analysis. That question appears to have never been formally answered. The union was denied the full investigative file. The public was told no responsive records existed. On July 8, 2026, a six-part public records request was filed to law director Michael O'Shea's office. This series follows it. Full series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDpI0ydpXyzWIPEpdUAM4WZOFT6XVBjkM www.theinfamousexchief.com Support the show Visit: https://www.liinks.co/the.infamous.exchief

    Rocky River Ep. 3 The Worst Kept Secret | Whistleblower Never Interviewed, ICAC Bombshell, What the Department Knew

  8. Jul 10

    She Was Handcuffed | Rocky River SRO Misconduct, BCI Statements & Institutional Failure (Ep. 2)

    Send us Fan Mail Episode 2 of The Worst-Kept Secret in Rocky River. In June of 2024, the first victim's best friend sat down with BCI Special Agents Heather Karl and Stacy Pfeiffer at the Richfield Field Office. She had known the first victim since eighth grade. Twenty years later, she remembered every detail. This episode is built from her recorded BCI statement, the first victim's own account, and the investigative file. What you hear is not commentary. It is documented. Michael Bernhardt was the school resource officer at Rocky River High School and a member of the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. Under Ohio Revised Code Section 2907.03A7, his conduct with a student over whom he held authority constitutes sexual battery regardless of her age or consent. The statute is unambiguous. A supervisor found out. He told Bernhardt to handle it and get out of it. Not report it. Not investigate it. Handle it. Bernhardt remained a Rocky River Police officer for approximately twenty more years. When BCI investigators sat down with Bernhardt on camera in September 2024, after search warrants had already been executed, he stated the relationship did not begin until after the first victim returned from the Army. Multiple independent witnesses, including her best friend, say she was no older than 16 when it started. She joined the Army at 17 to get away from him. Episode 3 covers what Rocky River PD knew, when they knew it, and what Chief George Lichtman said when asked directly. This is The Infamous Ex-Chief. Scott Gardner, former patrol officer, homicide detective, and chief of police. www.theinfamousexchief.com All links: https://liinks.co/the.infamous.exchief Support the show Visit: https://www.liinks.co/the.infamous.exchief

    She Was Handcuffed | Rocky River SRO Misconduct, BCI Statements & Institutional Failure (Ep. 2)
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About

The Infamous Ex-Chief is a hard-hitting podcast that exposes corruption, misconduct, and failures within the justice system without pulling punches. Hosted by a former police chief who believes in real accountability, this show dives deep into wrongful convictions, prosecutorial overreach, and law enforcement leadership gone wrong. Each episode dissects cases that don’t add up, challenges flawed investigations, and brings hidden truths to light. We are pro-police, not pro-corruption, because justice should be about facts, not politics. Join Tentacle Nation as we uncover the stories they don’t want you to hear. Available on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, and Rumble.

Information

  • Creator
    The Infamous Ex-Chief
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    146
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 The Infamous Ex-Chief
  • Show Website
    The Infamous Ex-Chief