The Chattanooga police officer accused of hosting a party attended by gang members in the Fraternal Order of Police lodge on Jan. 31 told internal affairs investigators the party was an outreach event for at-risk youth, police documents show.
Although the party was billed as an "Anything But Clothes" party on Facebook and advertised with pictures of scantily clad, provocatively posed adult models, Investigator Iran Meadows said the party was aimed at youth from age 16 to freshmen in college and was intended to give young people a safe environment to hang out.
Meadows said he did not know about the "Anything But Clothes" party advertised on Facebook.
Police launched an internal affairs investigation into Meadows and a second officer who was at the party, Jasin Holmes, on March 5. The case investigator, Sgt. Vincent Holoman, concluded his investigation on June 25 and the case is now being reviewed before Chief Fred Fletcher decides whether the officers violated department policy.
The internal affairs investigation confirms at least one validated gang member attended the party - a high-ranking member of the Rollin 40 Crips is shown throwing gang signs in a photo posted to Facebook. But Holoman could not find proof that any other validated gang members attended the party at 1709 Holtzclaw Ave.
Meadows and Holmes declined to comment for this story, but Meadows told internal affairs investigators on April 6 he thought between one and three gang members attended the party. He said the event wasn't a "gang party."
"Did I give a gang party? No. I gave a party," he told Holoman in a recorded interview. "If there was a gang member or two or three there, to me that's fine because, guess what, they acted fine. We didn't get any calls there. No problems there. Nothing illegal was going on there."
Holmes said that while gang members may have attended the party, no gang activity took place.
"Ain't no way in the world I would have been there and allowed gang activity to go on," Holmes said in his March 30 interview. "In a police building? No. No, no, no."
Videos and photos from the night show people dancing, taking selfies and clutching microphones. One man waves a wad of cash and another sips from a plastic apple juice bottle. In one video, the room is dark; in another, the lights are on. Although the Times Free Press initially reported that partygoers drank from red Solo cups, Holoman did not find evidence of that.
The internal affairs report takes the Times Free Press to task for reporting about the party and the allegations that gang members attended. Holoman said the Times Free Press exploited details that were "part of this investigator's tool to be used during interviews and interrogation." The release of information, Holoman said, may have compromised the internal affairs investigation.
Holmes, Meadows and the DJ who ran the party, Marcus Smith, all denied that alcohol was served inside the FOP lodge that night. Smith, who is also known as "DJ Money," said it's possible the partygoers had alcohol in their cars.
Smith told internal affairs investigators he paid Meadows cash to use the lodge for the party, according to the report. As a member of the Fraternal Order of Police, Meadows had free access to reserve the lodge for events.
FOP records show Meadows reserved the lodge 24 times between November 2012 and Jan. 31 of this year. Nineteen of those dates were Fridays or Saturdays, according to the internal affairs report.
Smith said he'd worked "more than six" parties through Meadows at the FOP lodge and said he paid Meadows each time, the report stated. Smith said admission to the Jan. 31 party was free before 11 p.m. and $10 per person after.
Besides asking whether gang members attended, many of Holoman's questions centered on whether Meadows and Holmes were paid to be at the party.
Chattanooga police policy requires that all officers must report any compensation for work outside their official duties. Officers may not work private parties where alcohol is served, and are also required to report volunteer, police-related work for charitable organizations.
Smith, Holmes and Meadows all gave different accounts of how and why money was transferred from Smith to the officers.
Smith told internal affairs that he paid Meadows $200, although when contacted by the Times Free Press last week, Smith said he could not remember how much he paid Meadows.
Meadows denies that Smith paid him at all. Instead, he said, Smith gave $100 to Holmes as a donation to his Masonic lodge. He said Holmes is lodge secretary and is authorized to receive donations.
Holmes said he received a rolled-up wad of cash from Smith at the end of the night but did not count it. Initially, Holmes said he gave the money to Meadows. When interviewed a second time, Holmes said he gave the money to Meadows and then Meadows gave it back to him to record as a donation.
However, Holmes said he did not record the donation, and he didn't know how much money he received or what happened to it. Smith was adamant throughout the investigation that he paid Meadows, not Holmes.
Smith also said Meadows did not stay at the party that night. He said that Meadows unlocked the door to the FOP lodge and then left, returning only at the end of the night to lock up.
That contradicts Meadows, who described in detail to internal affairs investigators what happened during the party.
When he was explaining to internal affairs that the Jan. 31 party was a party for at-risk youth, Meadows claimed that two organizations he is a part of - the Masonic lodge and the Black Police Officers Association - mentored kids through the Chambliss Center for Children.
The Chambliss Center has no record of either of those organizations in its volunteer database, said Lesley Berryhill, director of communication.
"Through our volunteer office, we can't find anything," she said. "We even called our former director of volunteers, who was here for 36 years, and she doesn't know them at all."
Berryhill added that doesn't mean Meadows never volunteered at the center, but said it appears those groups did not work with the center.
Both Meadows and Holmes emphasized to internal affairs investigators that they don't think they can do their jobs without interacting with gang members.
"To say one or two or three gang members in here makes a whole party a gang party, to me is ridiculous," Meadows said. "In that case, I can't work a basketball game, I can't work a football game. How do you separate it?"
"Just because you have a party doesn't mean it is a gang party, even if gang members show up," Holmes said.
Meadows also said he believes the party is only being questioned because the attendees were black.
"To me personally, it all started because black kids were in there," he said. "All the sudden it was young black kids out there and it was a problem."
Although finished, the internal affairs investigation does not determine whether the officers violated police policy - that will be done by Fletcher after the case is reviewed by a board of civilians and police. The process often takes several weeks.
Contact staff reporter Shelly Bradbury at 423-757-6525 or sbradbury@timesfree press.com with tips or story ideas.