Dean Naylor out as Muscatine County jailer

Posted

Editor’s note: The following story was posted online at iowacapitaldispatch.com May 6, written by Deputy Editor Clark Kaufmann. This is a follow-up to the report from Iowa Capital Dispatch in articles published previously in the Wilton-Durant Advocate News and West Liberty Index. The Advocate News and Index received a letter (pictured) dated May 1 noting that Administrator Dean Naylor had been terminated from the Muscatine County Sheriff’s Office.

By Clark Kaufmann
Iowa Capital Dispatch

Muscatine County Jail Administrator Dean Naylor, under fire and placed on leave for anti-Muslim comments he published online, reportedly no longer works for the county.
The Quad-City Times reported Wednesday that Muscatine County Supervisor Doug Holliday received an email Monday from Sheriff C.J. Ryan, Naylor’s boss, stating that Naylor “no longer works for Muscatine County.” Ryan and the county’s five supervisors could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
On April 10, the Iowa Capital Dispatch reported that Naylor, a captain with the sheriff’s department, had published online a lengthy treatise in which he called Muslims “pawns of the devil” and that he had created and posted seven related YouTube videos. All of the content was produced five to six years ago but it remains publicly accessible online.
In his written treatise, Naylor describes “the gay lifestyle” as an abomination and denounces court rulings that have led to the removal of the Ten Commandments from courthouses and government buildings. He also predicts a global conflict that will pit Muslims, led by Satan, against Christians and result in the death of 2 billion people.
At the time, Sheriff Ryan said his only concern was “the actions of my employees, not their personal beliefs. I have no comment on the personal beliefs of Mr. Naylor or any of my other employees.”
The Capital Dispatch later reported that officials in Johnson County — which uses the Muscatine County Jail to house some of its inmates — were threatening to cancel their contract with the jail over Naylor’s “hateful” commentary. That contract provides Muscatine County with $657,000 in annual revenue.
The letter from the Johnson County Board of Supervisors states that “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 your jail. We find Captain Naylor’s hateful speech to be unacceptable, particularly considering the high standard we hold for sworn law enforcement officers. We denounce his comments and actions.”
The letter goes on to suggest that if Muscatine County takes no steps to address the matter and “concerns remain, we may have no choice but to terminate our contract with Muscatine County and seek housing for our county’s overflow inmates elsewhere.”
Muscatine County expanded its jail years ago with the intent of having it generate revenue through fees paid other Iowa counties, including Johnson and Clinton, and by the federal government for housing some of their inmates.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, has publicly urged Muscatine County to fire Naylor. The organization’s director of government affairs, Robert McCaw, said, “Naylor’s hostility and twisted apocalyptic end-times beliefs directly impacts his ability to impartially ensure the safety, security and religious rights of Muslim inmates.”
Teamsters Local 238, which represents the Muscatine County jailers, also condemned Naylor’s statements and issued a vote of no confidence in his leadership.
For the past 10 years, Naylor has run the Muscatine County Jail, which has roughly 250 beds and houses inmates for other eastern Iowa counties and the federal government. The jail frequently houses Muslim inmates, some of whom have complained of discrimination.
In the 11,500-word treatise entitled “End Times — We Are Here!!,” Naylor characterizes Muslims as “the beast” that will set out to kill all Christians and Jews just before the rapture occurs. He writes that “people following the Muslim faith are nothing more than pawns to the devil … Islam has 2 billion followers, they hate Jews and Christians (and) they can have a 200-million-man army … Our fellow servants will turn on us and rat us out to the Satanically led Muslims.”
Naylor also warns that “very soon Christians will be faced with a world that is hunting them worldwide and they will not be able to participate in the economy.”
In one of his videos, Naylor urges viewers to “buckle up” and prepare for a war that will take place between 2016 and 2023 and will kill one-third of mankind.
“The beast is coming, all right? Whether you want to wake up to it or not, he’s coming. Our time is nearing the end,” Naylor says in the video. “Wake up. We need to start preparing for war — spiritual war and physical war.”
When asked in April by the Capital Dispatch whether his videos and written statements reflect his current way of thinking, Naylor declined to comment.

Comments