While two former Soddy-Daisy officers allege they were terminated over their truthful testimony in open court, city officials say they were let go because they degraded colleagues, plotted to get a fellow officer fired and wanted control of the police department.
Through an open records request, the Chattanooga Times Free Press obtained termination letters for former Capt. Eric Jenkins and former Lt. Jake Elrod, in addition to dozens of emails relating to Sgt. Jeremy Wright, who has been accused of being untrustworthy and manifesting pedophile behaviors.
The former officers were immediately placed on paid leave after they were subpoenaed to testify on April 30 and May 21 about Wright. Jenkins and Elrod were terminated on July 31.
During court hearings, they both testified that Wright allegedly sent alarming text messages that described sexual fantasies involving minors. In a separate incident, Elrod was notified that Wright allegedly showed a photo that included a portion of his penis to a woman and her underage cousin at a local Planet Fitness.
Jenkins and Elrod’s motive was not to do the right thing but to neutralize Wright and gain control of the department, City Manager Burt Johnson wrote in the letters.