Former La Vergne Police Officer Calls the City into Question With Substantial Allegations

According to a recent lawsuit filed, a former officer with the La Vergne Police Department has brought accusations against his former employer. He claims that he was forced out of his job after he raised concerns over inappropriate and criminal activity within the police force. He claims the work environment he, and other fellow employees, were regularly subjected to was intolerable and needed to be addressed.

The complaint was filed against the city of La Vergne on April 28th by former officer Michael Mullen. In the suit, Mullen claims that sexual misconduct and other criminal activity are commonplace in city offices. He states that the activity is carried out regularly by police officers for the city and is never discouraged or penalized. When he finally did make the decision to speak up against the lewd, offensive, and illegal activity he claims that he was forcibly La-Vergne-Police-Officer-Mullen-quoterequired to leave his employment.

Mullen is quoted in his suit against the city saying, “The La Vergne Police Department has systematically promoted an environment of lewd and sexual misconduct and rewarded officers who participated but took adverse action against the Plaintiff for not being like-minded.”

He goes on to elaborate on the offences that he witnessed during his fourteen years with the police department. He says that multiple officers were engaged in sexual relationships with minors, police informants, and other fellow officers. This activity highly influenced the day to day happenings within the police force and compromised effective police work.

The alleged offences go beyond inappropriate relationships as well. Mullen claims that between the years of 2001 ad 2015 he also witnessed evidence of illegal drug use and the inclusion of city officials in the activities. This then continued on to evidence being ignored and other cover up activity during investigations that involved city officials or police officers.

When Mullen made complaints to superiors, he claims he was investigated for making negative claims against fellow officers while those in question were never looked into. He says he was also denied deserved promotions because of his record of pointing out wrongdoing.

After being placed on administrative leave and then being denied reinstatement, Mullen sought employment at other agencies but was denied. He feels that La Vergne police department passed on false information to create a prejudice against him.

Attorneys for the case have not commented on the details of the case. The city of La Vergne has also remained silent.