Jail administrator who made anti-Muslim, anti-gay comments placed on administrative leave

Muscatine County Jail Administrator Capt. Dean Naylor was placed on administrative leave Thursday, reports the Muscatine Journal.

Muscatine County Sheriff C.J. Ryan confirmed Friday he placed Naylor on paid administrative leave.

"He will be on leave until we have finished an internal investigation," Ryan said. "I'm really not certain how long this process will take. I'm not trying to be evasive in any way — there's just a lot we don't know right now and we are at the beginning."

Earlier Friday, Muscatine County Board of Supervisors Vice-Chair Santos Saucedo confirmed that Ryan made the decision and informed the board. Neither said if Naylor's leave was prompted by the discovery of Naylor's lengthy online treatise and seven YouTube videos  Muslims "pawns of the devil" and called the "gay lifestyle" an "abomination."

Naylor's writings and videos were a topic during the Monday, April 13, regular meeting of the board of supervisors. There it was determined Muscatine County has no written policy governing what employees can post on personal websites.

But the discovery of Naylor's work had a wider effect.

Muscatine County recently expanded its jail, planning to generate revenue through fees paid by other Iowa counties — as well as the federal government — for housing inmates.

Johnson County sends inmates to Muscatine and responded to Naylor's opinions by threatening to end its contract with the Muscatine County Jail. Last year, Muscatine collected $657,415 as payment from Johnson County for housing inmates.

The Johnson County Board of Supervisors wrote to the Muscatine County Board of Supervisors, voicing concerns about Naylor.

“Captain Naylor’s reprehensible comments about Muslims and members of the LGBTQ+ community have caused us to fear for the civil liberties of the inmates housed at (Muscatine County) jail,” Johnson County Chairperson Rod Sullivan said in his statement to the board.

Sullivan encouraged the Muscatine Board of Supervisors to take all actions necessary to “ensure the protection of the civil liberties of all persons incarcerated in your jail."

Zach Peterson, business agent for Teamsters Local 238 — which represents the Correction Officers of the Muscatine County Jail — also made a statement earlier in the month, criticizing Naylor’s comments and actions as well as asking Ryan to remove Naylor from his position.

“Hatred of this type will not be tolerated by Teamsters 238,” Peterson said. “The Muscatine jailers deserve better leadership and are clear in their position that Captain Naylor’s statements are not representative of their beliefs or work ethics. We believe this behavior reflects poorly on the Muscatine community, and if not corrected or acted upon, reflects a morally complicit position of Sheriff C.J. Ryan.”

Friday afternoon, Teamsters Local 238 released a statement, making it publicly known that they had taken a vote of no confidence in Naylor as well as the sheriff's administration. The Teamsters also repeated their recommendation to fully remove Naylor from his position in this statement.

In his written treatise, Naylor denounced court rulings that led to the removal of the Ten Commandments from courthouses and government buildings. He predicted a global war pitting Muslims against Christians that would result in the death of two billion people.

By Tom Loewy; Andrea Grubaugh via The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2020 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved.

The Gayly. 4/25/2020 @ 8:43 p.m. CST.