Officials in a Tennessee city have fired five officers and suspended three others following a sex scandal at the police department.
Jason Cole, the mayor of La Vergne, near Nashville, began investigating the department in December after getting an anonymous complaint, according to an investigative report that WSMV-TV obtained through a records request. The investigation found that some officers who worked second shift were engaging in unreported sexual relationships, having sex on duty and on city-owned property, and committing sexual harassment by sending explicit photos and videos.
“This is a difficult situation for our department and for the city, but I want to be clear that the actions of a few do not represent this department as a whole,” Police Chief Burrel “Chip” Davis said Monday in a statement.
Cole called the matter “unacceptable” and said the city investigated it without delay.
“Our top priority moving forward will include rebuilding the public’s trust,” the mayor said in a statement.
The 60-person department now has 11 vacancies, but Davis said there’s enough staff to cover patrol shifts and to protect the community.
Kara Hobbs, a newly-elected alderman in La Vergne, told CBS affiliate WTVF that she’s “shocked and overall disappointed with our police department and what’s happened.”
The husband of the Tennessee police officer fired for having sex with six of her co-workers is standing by his wife, the Daily Mail reported Friday.
“I don’t know how he’s doing it, he’s more of a man than I am, but he’s trying to salvage his marriage,” Jedidiah Hall’s boss, Coffee County Sheriff Chad Partin, told the outlet.
Jedidiah’s wife, Officer Maegan Hall of the La Vergne, Tenn., police department, was fired after allegations emerged she engaged in sex with co-workers, sent them nude pictures, took off her top at a “Girls Gone Wild”-themed hot tub party, and performed oral sex on two fellow officers while on duty.
The hanky-panky also led to the firings of Sgt. Lewis Powell, Officer Juan Lugo, Sgt. Ty McGowan and Detective Seneca Shields, according to the internal investigation last month.
Officers Patrick Magliocco and Larry Holladay, who allegedly also had romps with Maegan Hall, stayed on the force but were suspended.
Maegan Hall had told her co-workers she was in an open marriage, investigators said. One of her co-workers, however, said that Jedidiah, who the Daily Mail reported is the son of a pastor, was not on board.
Partin said the former park ranger had been training for a job with the Tennessee Highway Patrol but pulled out after the allegations against his wife became public. He’s since become a deputy in Coffee County.
“I have offered and extended to him any resource that he needs. And all he says is, ‘Sheriff, I just want to work for the citizens of Coffee County and I love what I’m doing,’” Partin said.
“I don’t condone what went on at the La Vergne Police Department but he sure hasn’t broken any laws. He’s the victim here. There’s not a blemish on his record. He is doing a phenomenal, phenomenal job,” Partin added.
According to an internal investigative report by the La Vergne Police Department, Magliocco said Jedidiah Hall had become upset at a party when Maegan had begun kissing his wife.
Jedidiah “really wasn’t on board” with his wife having a threesome, Magliocco said.
Magliocco also expressed concern for Maegan Hall’s mental health, claiming she’d been prone to heavy drinking. He said she had once pointed an empty gun at her head and pulled the trigger — “so she could hear what it sounded like.”
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