Jail officers suspended after unrelated arrests

Two Ulster County corrections officers arrested in separate incidents have each been suspended without pay.

Two Ulster County corrections officers arrested in separate incidents Friday have each been suspended without pay for 30 days, Ulster County Sheriff Paul VanBlarcum said Tuesday.

Chris C. Ferro, 49, of Hurley, and Eric Decker, 37, of Kerhonkson, will also face departmental charges, VanBlarcum said. He said the 30-day suspension and departmental charges are the maximum discipline he can impose at this time. After the 30-day unpaid suspension, a decision would have to be made whether to place them on paid leave or to bring them back to work, the sheriff said.

The departmental charges the two face are a result of “violating rules and policies of our office,” VanBlarcum added.

Ferro is a lieutenant with the Ulster County Jail. He has been employed with the sheriff’s office since December 1988.

Decker is a corrections officer who has worked at the jail since January 2004.

Dutchess County sheriff’s deputies charged Ferro with the misdemeanors of forcible touching and unlawful imprisonment following an incident at the Inn at the Falls in LaGrange, Dutchess County. Dutchess deputies said Ferro was accused of subjecting another person to sexual contact without the person’s consent and then refusing to let the person leave. He was released with tickets to appear in LaGrange Town Court.

Decker was charged with drunken driving and driving with a blood alcohol content exceeding 0.18 percent, both misdemeanors, following a traffic stop on Samsonville Road in the town of Rochester, Ulster County sheriff’s deputies said. Ulster deputies said the traffic stop occurred after Decker was seen failing to use his turn signal. Deputies had been alerted to an erratic vehicle driving on the road at approximately 7 p.m., they said. Decker was released with tickets to appear in Rochester Town Court.

The criminal charges against both are still pending.