The chief of detectives with the Youngstown police department has been fired from his role with the Youngstown State University police department after it was discovered he had been teaching without the proper certificate for years. 
 
Captain Jason Simon, a 25-year-veteran of the Youngstown police department, lost his teaching certificate through the Ohio Peace Officer Training Academy OPOTA in 2019 after being reported for a sexual relationship with a student while he was teaching at Kent State University's police academy. 
 
Despite this, Simon managed to get hired at YSU police in 2020, two years later, where he has admitted to 21 News he was acting as an instructor until he was fired on 2/25/25, despite not having a valid teaching certificate. 
 
Simon was fired from Kent State after being confronted with it and the matter was reported to OPOTA. 
 
After reviewing the matter, OPOTA determined Simon "engaged in improper conduct toward a female student while teaching as a POBT instructor," and that the conduct "does not reflect favorably as on OPOTC instructor. 
 
21 News has confirmed that Simon applied for a certificate in firearms training in 2022, but was denied due to this revocation and that the teaching certificate was never reinstated. 
 
On his 2022 application for certification as a firearms instructor, one of the questions was "Have you ever been investigated, disciplined, or terminated for any matters alleging theft, falsification, dishonesty, violence, immorality, ethical misconduct, and/or sexual misconduct?"
 
Simon checked no, despite the Kent State firing from three years prior. This false answer was caught by a certification specialist and the application was denied. 
 
The paperwork from YSU terminating Simon's employment does not explicitly state the reason, but in a letter dated 2/25/25, Simon was told: "This correspondence serves as notice that your employment with Youngstown State University ends effective this date. You shall no longer serve as a part-time instructor, intermittent police officer or act in a volunteer capacity." 
 
Attached was an investigative summary dated 12/21/18 detailing the results of the Kent State firing. 
 
That summary details a text from a Kent State student that was sent to Sallie Kurilchick, the clerical specialist with the Kent State police academy, informing her that she'd learned of a student having a sexual relationship with Simon while he was their instructor. 
 
The student said they'd learned of the relationship from the student involved, who had said she and Simon had had sex in a car during lunch. The student had said that Simon had told her he was separated from his wife at the time, but then later admitted that was not true. 
 
The relationship was reported to human resources, who cited a policy clearly stating that this relationship would violate university policy on consensual relationships and other relationship-based conflicts of interest. 
 
On 12/20/18, Simon was called into a meeting at Kent State Police Academy, where he was asked about the allegation. 
 
The report says Simon initially lied, saying they were just friends, but then admitted that the relationship was sexual and that he knew it was wrong. 
 
At that point, the report says Simon "asked that he would appreciate it if there was any way that this not be reported to OPOTA. I told him there was not. He was concerned that this would have an effect on his job at Youngstown PD. I told him that I was not going to call them." 
 
At the end of the meeting, the report says Simon, unsolicited, said this was the only incident like this he'd ever had happen, but then goes on to say "Later that day, I was told Simon has had two prior sexual harassment incidents at YPD." 
An email from attorney Carolyn Gutowski of the law firm of Clemans-Nelson to the Ohio Attorney General's office on January 15, 2020 indicates Youngstown police had been unaware of the Kent State firing until that time. 
 
Gutowski wrote: 
"Just following up on my request for more info re Youngstown Police Captain Jason Simon's certification revocation by OPOTA. As a reminder, I represent Youngstown PD and it recently came to their attention that Captain Simon's OPOTA certification was revoked due possibly to misconduct. We are trying to determine what happened in order to address this issue with Captain Simon if necessary." 
 
In response, Richard Hardy, assistant executive director for OPOTA, said the revocation only applied to Simon's teaching certificate, but was otherwise current with "all statutory mandate and CPT training requirements through the Ohio Peace Officer Training Commission." 
 
When all of these details were brought to the city of Youngstown, including the falsified training application and years of teaching without a valid certificate in violation of the Ohio Administrative Code, the city issued a statement on behalf of the mayor and the police department standing by Simon, saying: 
 
"The allegations related to Captain Simon's employment at Kent State were brought to the city's attention at the time. It was determined then that there was no direct nexus between the complaint and his employment with the Youngstown Police Department. No allegations of this nature in his role as a Youngstown police officer have been brought to our attention since then."
 
Simon has worked for the Youngstown police department since November of 2000, where he has risen through the ranks and is currently the chief of detectives. He also sits on the board of directors for the Boys and Girls Club, as well as on the programming committee and property/safety committee for that group, is a member of Fraternal Order of Police, FBI National Academy Associates, High Tech Crimes Investigation Association, International Law Enforcement Educators and Trainers Association and is associated with the International Association of Chiefs of Police where he's on the police administration committee and the policy council advisory group.
 

21 News reached out to YSU to clarify how Simon was hired without a teaching certificate.

YSU spokesperson Becky Rose told 21 News, "Once Youngstown State University was made aware of the Kent State University incident report, YSU took the steps to terminate Simon’s employment. At the time of his termination, he was not teaching in the YSU Police Academy but served as a part-time instructor within the Criminal Justice Department." 

Rose added that Simon's role as a part-time professor within the Criminal Justice department does not require an OPOTA certificate; however, Rose noted that during the time that Simon had an active OPOTA certificate, he sporadically covered classes in the YSU Police Academy. It is unclear in which year he covered those classes.

Rose said that the university conducts criminal background checks as part of the standard hiring procedure but that YSU would not have been notified of Simon's termination from Kent State University.