A third former Soddy-Daisy police officer has filed a lawsuit involving a sergeant who was investigated over sexual misconduct involving minors and alleging corrupt city and police officials protected him.
The alleged sex scandal involving Soddy-Daisy Sgt. Jeremy Wright is at the center of a local criminal case and two pending federal lawsuits. Former Officers Jake Elrod and Eric Jenkins filed theirs in August, and former Officer Brandon Miller filed his Tuesday.
Miller, Elrod and Jenkins claim they lost their jobs for speaking out about Wright after he allegedly showed a “penis picture” to a minor at Planet Fitness and sent concerning text messages about “young people” to a Whitwell woman, according to the lawsuits.
A reporter contacted Wright on at least seven occasions since May 2024, and he again did not respond for this story.
Miller has sued the city of Soddy-Daisy, City Manager Burt Johnson, Police Chief Billy Petty and former Police Chief Mike Sneed. A reporter requested their comments Wednesday, and Johnson responded by email.
Miller voluntarily resigned June 3, 2024, from the Police Department, Johnson said. As in any federal court case, the city is unable to comment on the merits of his lawsuit, he said.
“It is apparent it is related to a similar lawsuit filed last year, and that there are likely common factual issues,” Johnson said. “Like the previous lawsuit, the city intends to defend this case vigorously and will respond accordingly to the specific allegations in the complaint pursuant to the rules of procedure.”
While Miller didn’t appear to be directly involved in the Wright investigation, according to his lawsuit, he was one of the officers who brought the information to the Hamilton County district attorney.
It is well known Soddy-Daisy is highly political and those with authority yield a certain amount of power, according to the lawsuit.
“That power is then used to silence officers and threaten them from coming forward about the bad acts of other officers like Wright or their superiors within the SDPD,” the lawsuit said.
FIRST COMPLAINT
Former Capt. Jenkins received a complaint in February 2023 that Wright had or was having inappropriate relationships with minors, the lawsuit said.
Jenkins handed over this information to former Lt. Elrod and then-Chief Sneed in order to start an investigation.
At the time, Miller worked investigations with Elrod and had a close professional relationship with him, the lawsuit said.
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Sneed referred the case to the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office for a criminal investigation.
While Wright’s criminal investigation was pending, the Police Department allowed him to continue to patrol the streets and perform functions of an officer, which included having access to minors and local schools in the community, the lawsuit said.
A Sheriff’s Office investigator interviewed a woman with whom Wright had been intimate regarding her allegations, the lawsuit said, adding that the investigator downloaded the contents of her cell phone, which revealed texts with Wright about sexual fantasies involving minors.
The detective was alarmed an officer would send those types of messages, but there was no criminal violation for fantasizing about having sex with minors, the complaint said.
Miller, Elrod and Jenkins as well as the Soddy-Daisy Police Department are all in possession of Wright’s texts, the lawsuit claims.
SECOND COMPLAINT
A few months after the initial complaint, Elrod was notified of a second incident involving Wright.
Wright was accused of showing a nude photograph of himself in a “before and after photo of his body” to a woman and her underage cousin at a local gym.
“The reporting adult female further advised that she and her underage cousin did not want to see Wright’s penis, so they left Planet Fitness,” the lawsuit said.
Elrod brought the complaint to District Attorney Coty Wamp, and they agreed there was not a clearly identifiable criminal charge to bring against Wright, the lawsuit said.
When confronted about any nude photographs on his phone, Wright allegedly lied to Elrod.
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Elrod knew Wright had naked pictures of himself on his phone due to his text messages with the woman, the lawsuit said.
Wright at one point walked into Jenkins’ office and said “what Jake (Elrod) doesn’t know is there was another picture, and that one had my penis in it,” the complaint said.
The police chief was allegedly given a report that detailed Wright’s misrepresentation about the nude photos and that Wright said he was turned on and called a woman “lucky” when she expressed her past sex experiences with minors rather than report the incident to law enforcement.
But nothing happened, the lawsuit said.
THE TRIAL
By September 2023, subpoenas were being issued for a criminal trial in which Wright was the lead investigator.
He was the arresting officer in a vehicular homicide case against Justin Whaley, who was a Hamilton County emergency medical technician.
Jenkins was one of the officers subpoenaed to testify at Whaley’s trial.
Miller, Elrod, Jenkins, Sneed, Johnson and Petty all knew they were obligated to disclose the evidence against Wright, the lawsuit said. His alleged untruthfulness could be impeachment evidence at Whaley’s trial.
Elrod allegedly approached Sneed several times about disclosing the investigative report to the district attorney, but he refused. A copy of Elrod’s investigative report or any other findings were not included in Wright’s personnel file, the lawsuit said.
A reporter previously requested Wright’s personnel file from the department, and there was no record of any investigation.
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Both Elrod and Jenkins feared retaliation by criminal actions or employment if they went above the heads of city officials, so neither of them disclosed the information to Wamp, the complaint said.
For example, Sneed allegedly responded to Jenkins by leaning back in his chair and saying, “Well, if you go down there and say anything like that, I’ll call Coty and say you perjured yourself.”
The trial went on as scheduled in October 2023 without the information disclosed. Whaley was convicted of seven of eight charges against him including reckless vehicular homicide.
NEW TRIAL
When Sneed retired, the officers attempted to bring up disclosing the information again with the new chief, Petty, according to the lawsuit. But he allegedly also refused, and so did Johnson.
In March 2024, Miller, Jenkins and Elrod ultimately went to Wamp, expressing they felt they had no other options.
The District Attorney’s Office contacted Whaley’s defense to disclose the information five months after the verdict, the lawsuit said.
On July 18, Judge Boyd Patterson granted Whaley a new trial on the charges of vehicular homicide by intoxication and driving under the influence based on, in part, the testimony of Elrod and Jenkins.
Miller was allegedly demoted from a supervisory officer role he held for years and removed from any administrative and operational matters. He was also allegedly skipped over for a promotion.
He then resigned due to the working conditions in June 2024, and Elrod and Jenkins were terminated in July.
Miller has requested $1 million in damages in addition to the city being ordered to properly document internal investigations so the public and prosecutors can easily ascertain information about officers, the lawsuit said.
Contact Sofia Saric at ssaric@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6476.