Law Enforcement is a heated topic these days. Although I
typically try to keep my opinions to myself on this blog, I have to admit I
feel bad for conscientious, ethical, community-minded police officers whose
reputations are tarnished by the careless, unethical and sometimes criminal
actions by others in their profession. This is why I hesitate to tell this
story. It is the story of one man, a Fairfax police officer, who went from law
enforcer to law breaker.
David Lee Planitz was born July 2, 1928 to Robert and
Grace Planitz. He had an older brother and grew up in eastern Hamilton
County, living in Mt. Lookout, Mariemont, and Newtown. In 1942, Robert Planitz
died suddenly of a coronary occlusion. In September 1945, David enlisted in the
U.S. Navy and served until June 1947. Grace
Planitz remarried and in 1950 David was living in Newtown with his mother,
brother, stepfather, and stepbrother. Planitz married in 1951,
but was divorced within two years.
Planitz worked as a truck driver after his discharge from
the Navy, but became a Cincinnati police officer in January 1952. By 1957, he
was a motorcycle officer.
David Planitz modeling a new police motorcycle helmet
January 17, 1957, Cincinnati Enquirer
A June 1958 Cincinnati Enquirer article reported
that Planitz “wrenched his spine” and had been temporarily unable to move his
upper extremities. According to the report, Planitz was removing his motorcycle
from his garage when he noticed an oil spot on the pavement. He sustained the
injury when he bent over to look at the spot. Planitz left the Cincinnati
Police Department in October 1958.
Planitz married for the second time in the late 1950s. The
couple bought a house on Roberts Street in Fairfax in 1962. In the early 1960s,
Planitz worked as a Hamilton County sheriff’s deputy for several months before
joining the Fairfax Police Department in 1963. David Planitz’s second marriage
ended in late 1963, but the couple remarried within a matter of months.
As a Fairfax officer in the 1960s, Planitz would have
been involved in some of the most high-profile cases in the
village’s history, the Debbie Dappen abduction and murder, the disappearance of
Johnny Hundley and Jimmy McQueary, and the Troy Lee Carr murder. He moved up in
the department and achieved the rank of sergeant. Fairfax Police Chief Paul Ferrara
later described Planitz as “outspoken,” but considered him “a pretty good
policeman.”
David Planitz and his wife divorced a second time in
March 1970. Planitz continued to live in his Roberts Street house.
On November 30, 1970, a citizen reported to Cincinnati police
that two men were tampering with the night deposit box at the Fifth Third Bank at
Madison Road and Markbreit Avenue in Oakley. Police found two men sitting in a
car in front of the bank. Three heavy duty nylon ropes with hooks attached were
also found the in car. The two men were arrested and charged with entering a
coin receiving device. The car was registered to David Planitz.
Interestingly, the same bank reported the theft of $200 from
the night deposit box exactly one week earlier. On another occasion, the bank
found nylon rope and a hook attached to a deposit bag in the night depository.
Cincinnati and Fairfax police conducted a joint investigation
and obtained a search warrant for Planitz’s home and car. It turned out that this wasn’t David Planitz’s first involvement with theft. On December 1, 1970, Planitz was charged with possession of burglary tools and burglary in relation to an October 23
burglary at Prudential Life Insurance Agency in Madisonville
in which a safe was stolen. Chief Paul Ferrara suspended
Sergeant Planitz pending the outcome of the case.
David Planitz, December 3, 1970 Cincinnati Enquirer
The following day, Planitz pleaded not guilty to both
charges. The judge set bond at $500 for each charge. After court that day, he apparently
went to one of his favorite hangouts, the Royal Family Billiard Lounge in
Oakley Square (a hop, skip, and jump from the aforementioned Fifth Third Bank),
for a little relaxation. However, Cincinnati police interrupted the fun at
about 6:00 p.m. when they arrested Planitz on a breaking and entering charge
filed by Milford police in connection to a November 19 break-in at Ray
Steidle Pontiac. On December 14, he pleaded not guilty to that charge in
Clermont County Court.
The Fairfax Police Department was apparently taking some
flak over the Planitz case. The Cincinnati Enquirer published an opinion
piece titled “In All Fairness” asking citizens to be fair to Fairfax police rather
than ridicule them. The same department being criticized had investigated
and arrested one of their own and deserved residents’ support. The piece
said, "Whenever one succumbs to the temptations of condemning an entire
group or class of people because of the transgressions of one of its members,
he is giving in to intolerance, bias and irrationality."
At the beginning of the new year, David Planitz was
facing three felony charges and suspended from his job as a Fairfax police
sergeant. If you think he stayed under the radar for a while, you would be
wrong. On January 2, 1971, Blue Ash police were on a routine patrol at 5:25
a.m. when they saw a man run from the King Kwik store on Hunt Road. The police
lost the man, but saw a car pull away from the scene. They stopped the car,
which was occupied by David Planitz and an 18-year-old woman. They were
arrested and charged with possession of burglary tools and attempted burglary.
David Planitz submitted his resignation from the Fairfax
Police Department to Chief Ferrara on January 18, 1971, saying it was for the
best of the department. I doubt that many people would dispute that.
On February 26, Planitz’s defense attorney filed a motion
for dismissal in relation to the attempted burglary at the Blue Ash King Kwik,
which the judge granted. The Blue Ash police had no evidence of a crime at the
time they stopped Planitz and asked to see his driver’s license. Police found
what they considered burglary tools in Planitz’s car, but hadn’t found evidence
of an attempted burglary until later.
In the early morning hours of March 8, 1971, Cincinnati
police were patrolling Erie Avenue in Hyde Park when they noticed footprints in
the snow leading to the Saybrook Tavern. An officer went to the rear of the
building and saw two men run from the tavern. The men ignored orders to stop
and the officer fired two shots, missing the men. One of the men, David
Planitz, surrendered after a foot chase. Police pursued the other man for three
miles with a canine officer and helicopter joining the chase, but he got away.
The Saybrook Tavern’s safe had been breached and $950 was taken. Planitz was
charged with burglary of an unoccupied dwelling. His accomplice surrendered a
couple of days later; he had been a suspect because his car was found at the
scene.
In March 1971, Planitz sold his house on Roberts Street.
His association with Fairfax was over; his life of crime was not.
David Planitz, March 8, 1971, Cincinnati Post
On April 9, 1971, Planitz was a passenger in a car with
another man when a Clermont County sheriff’s deputy pulled them over on State
Route 125 near Batavia. Planitz was charged with possession of burglary tools.
The other man was also charged with driving under suspension and driving an
unsafe vehicle. Planitz was freed after posting the $10,000 bond.
On May 2, Planitz and another man were pulled over by a
Fairfax officer. Planitz was charged, again, with possession of burglary tools,
as well as illegal possession of an amphetamine.
On May 4, Planitz and four accomplices, all of whom were
at least 20 years younger than he was, broke into the Heber Jones auto
dealership in Middletown. They took a customer’s 1970 Cadillac, a stereo set, and
tools. A safe was badly damaged, but the burglars didn’t make entry. The stolen
car was recovered and the five suspects taken into custody in Bellevue in Huron County, Ohio. The five suspects were each charged with breaking and
entering and grand larceny. Planitz was also charged in Bellevue for the
theft of $150 in tools.
In July 1971, Planitz pleaded guilty to the charges
related to the Heber Jones robbery. The Butler County judge sentenced him to
three concurrent terms in the Ohio State Penitentiary. Later, during the sentencing
of Planitz’s accomplices, it came to light that at least two of them were drug
dealers and another admitted to being an addict.
In early November 1971, David Planitz was returned from
the State Penitentiary to appear in Clermont County and Hamilton County courts.
On November 2, he changed his plea to guilty for the charges related to the Ray
Steidle Pontiac break-in. His Clermont County sentences would run concurrently
with the terms imposed by Butler County. On November 3 in Hamilton County, he also changed his
plea to guilty for the charges related to the Saybrook Tavern burglary. The prosecutor
announced that the County was dropping the charges stemming from the May 2
traffic stop in Fairfax.
Planitz’s defense attorney blamed his problems on “speed
and pills” and said he had been reformed in prison.
A few years passed with no word of Planitz, who was
presumably serving his time in the Ohio Pen. Unfortunately, we hadn’t yet heard the
last of him. By September 1974, Planitz was facing more burglary-related
charges. He was charged with breaking and entering, safecracking, and theft in
connection with a July 1974 burglary at the Golden Rooster in Anderson
Township. $4,000 had been taken from the safe. He was implicated by the testimony of his 16-year-old accomplice in Juvenile Court. Planitz was also arrested by
Norwood police in July 1974 for possession of burglary tools when he was
spotted leaving an apartment building carrying a suitcase containing acetylene
tanks, a pry bar, and other suspicious items.
Planitz ultimately pleaded guilty to charges related to
the Golden Rooster burglary and the Norwood incident. His sentencing was
delayed in February 1975 because he was in Veterans Hospital with a neck
injury. Ultimately, he landed back in the Ohio State Penitentiary.
David Planitz died at Franciscan Mt. Airy Hospital on
September 17, 1978 at the age of 50.
The question that plagues me as I write this is . . . Why?
Why did a middle-aged veteran police officer turn to crime? Why and when did he begin
abusing drugs? It all seemed to begin in late 1970. I have trouble
believing that he was involved in any significant criminal activity before then
– he was so very bad at burglary that he surely would have been caught. I can only hope
that Planitz's accomplices, most of whom were significantly younger than him, went
on to live productive lives.
