Former Lorain County 911 dispatcher charged with misusing law enforcement database

A former Lorain County 911 emergency dispatcher is facing a felony criminal charge for allegedly improperly using a restricted law enforcement database to look up information on the mother of his child. Greggory Byrd, 37, of Olmsted Township, surrendered at the Lorain County Jail on Wednesday morning and was booked on a charge of unauthorized use of the Law Enforcement Automated Database System, or LEADS. The charge is a fifth-degree felony. Byrd will be arraigned March 26 in Lorain County Common Pleas Judge Melissa Kobasher's courtroom. Court records did not list an attorney. Lorain County 911 Director Kurt Scholl said he and his managers immediately investigated after learning of the allegations. Byrd was placed on unpaid administrative leave and has since resigned, Scholl said. Misuse of LEADS is "not anything we take lightly," he said. The Chronicle-Telegram made a public records request for Byrd's personnel file. Hired in 2019, he made $86,500 in 2025, according to county records. Lorain County Sheriff's detectives began an investigation in January after learning that Byrd allegedly used LEADS while on duty at the Lorain County 911 center on Burns Road in Elyria to look up information about Melissa Kent, a woman he shares a child with. The search that Byrd ran on her wasn't related to any legitimate law enforcement investigation or purpose. It was reported to the Lorain County Sheriff's Office by an anonymous source, Sheriff Jack Hall's office said in a news release. "We take the integrity of all law enforcement databases very seriously due to the sensitivity of records contained in them," Hall said. "The fact that an employee who is entrusted with protecting this data violated the public trust for his own personal use is deeply disturbing." Scholl said an internal investigation the Sheriff's Office first contacted Scholl about the violation on Jan. 22, it said. The completed investigation was then forwarded to the Lorain County Prosecutor's Office for review by a grand jury. According to a police report obtained by The Chronicle-Telegram through a public records request, Lorain County 911 started an internal investigation after records showed a LEADS search had returned the name of Melissa Dawn Kent, the mother of Byrd's child. Dispatchers have to have a legitimate law enforcement reason to do a LEADS search, Scholl said. Generally that means a police officer has asked them to or it's related to an emergency call, which it wasn't in this case. Evidence showed Byrd used the terminal on Jan. 16 to search Kent's Social Security number. Byrd admitted he did that to see if there was a temporary protection order in place in his and his daughter's names, according to the Sheriff's Office. Byrd told a detective that Kent was abusive and threatened to kill him after he got custody of their daughter. He provided Facebook posts as proof that she made death threats, according to the police report. Kent, 34, of Cleveland, was charged with aggravated menacing, telephone harassment and domestic violence, all misdemeanors, in Berea Municipal Court on Jan. 8. The court issued a temporary protection order against her on behalf of Byrd, his daughter and another person on Jan. 9. Kent pleaded no contest to amended misdemeanor charges of telephone harassment and disorderly conduct on Feb. 12. Sentencing is April 9, according to court records. Scholl said Byrd was certified on LEADS, which requires training and annual testing, and dispatchers are expected to know security protocols and policy, he said. Scholl also reported the violation to Ohio LEADS officials, he said, and that he felt there was enough evidence to turn the investigation over to law enforcement for possible criminal charges. Scholl said he couldn't recall ever having an issue with a dispatcher improperly searching for someone's information in LEADS. "You have to have a reason to run somebody," he said. "There has to be a legitimate reason." Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com.