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Officials at the Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office filed an official incident report alleging “unprofessional conduct” after Fairfax Commonwealth Attorney Steve Descano and his chief deputy allegedly vehemently and profanely objected to a security check on September 28 at the Fairfax County Courthouse.
The incident angered the sheriff’s office. A supervisor reviewing the incident said the behavior was “inappropriate for a judicial officer” and demonstrated “disrespect and unprofessionalism” towards the screening staff who were only doing their jobs.
Courthouse security personnel were screening 100% of all employees and lawyers that day. These checks, which take place on random days, were implemented at the request of the Courthouse Security Committee, the report, obtained by the Sun Gazette, noted.
According to the sequence of events presented in the report, Descano and Deputy Commonwealth Attorney Kyle Manikas entered the courthouse at 9:37 a.m., and Allied Security Officer Jason Tremino informed the men that they had to undergo a security check.
Descano, a Democrat, reportedly opposed the screening, citing his status as a Commonwealth lawyer, but Tremino told him all lawyers should be screened. According to the incident report, Descano threw an umbrella he was holding into the x-ray machine and started removing items from his pockets and throwing them into trash cans for screening.
Two uniformed law enforcement officers bypassed the checkpoint during the incident. When Descano asked why this was allowed, Tremino explained that these uniformed officers were exempt from the policy.
According to the report, Descano allegedly said, “This is bullshit -! Don’t you know who i am I am the most senior law enforcement official in Fairfax County. Manikas was also “visibly upset” as he also walked through the projection, the document reads, and kept saying, “This is —— bullshit–.”
Security officials detected what appeared to be a knife in Manikas’ lunch bag and informed the lawyer that a more detailed physical search of the bag was needed. Manikas claimed there was no knife in the bag, but Tremino turned the screen of the x-ray machine to show him the image, then opened the bag and found a butter knife. .
Tremino told Manikas he could keep the knife and the screening was over, according to the report.
Allied security guard Syed Abidi informed Descano that the screening policy was at the request of the Courthouse Security Screening Committee. Descano told Abidi he was the boss of the committee – “they worked for me” – and showed the security guard his employee ID badge, according to the report.
The senior security officers received statements from the two and reviewed a video of the incident, which took place over two minutes and 30 seconds. The video corroborated what the officers said, according to the report.
Officials forwarded the report to the Sheriff’s Office chain of command and Fairfax Circuit Court Chief Justice Penney Azcarate.
The Sun Gazette contacted Descano’s office by phone and email, but received no response regarding the allegations in the incident report.
According to the Sheriff’s Office website, attorneys who complete applications and undergo background checks can obtain ID cards to bypass the security check at the courthouse most of the time. The new random day checks for everyone except uniformed law enforcement officers are an added safety measure.
Descano in 2019 narrowly defeated outgoing Commonwealth prosecutor Ray Morrogh in the Democratic primaries after outside interest groups funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions to left-wing challengers clashing with moderate prosecutors in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Fairfax and Arlington. He won the general election that year and will then face voters in 2023.
[Sun Gazette Newspapers provides content to, but otherwise is unaffiliated with, InsideNoVa or Rappahannock Media LLC.]
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