Post by WaTcHeR on Mar 31, 2006 10:49:30 GMT -5
03/31/2006 - Prichard officer who resigned earlier this year shortly after he was confronted with sex allegations told his superiors he quit to dedicate more time to his duties as a church pastor.
Mobile County prosecutors are investigating allegations that then-Officer Terry Price solicited sexual favors from a woman he arrested on charges of disorderly conduct and marijuana possession, Prichard Police Chief Lawrence Battiste said.
Asked about the arrest Thursday, Battiste said his department could not find the marijuana Price allegedly confiscated from the woman. Battiste declined further comment about the incident and referred questions about the investigation to the Mobile County District Attorney's Office.
Price, 33, has not been charged with any wrongdoing. Mobile County District Attorney John Tyson Jr. said on Thursday that his office has received the case file but has not begun its inquiry, yet.
An internal investigation by the Prichard department has been completed and is among the information given to the prosecutors, Battiste said.
Price, who also serves as pastor of the Greater Zion Hope Primitive Baptist Church, could not be reached for comment. The phone at the church has been disconnected with no forwarding number. Price became pastor of the church in 2001, according to a religion listing in the Mobile Register.
"The responsibility of leading God's people has now grown to a greater demand of my attention as a full time Pastor," Price wrote in his resignation letter. "As I strive to achieve what God has laid out before me, I ask that you pray for me as I continue to pray for you and the City of Prichard."
Price was hired as a Prichard reserve officer in 2002 after being fired from a position at the Camp Martin Youth Leadership Academy in Mobile for "violating a pick-up order," according to documents in Price's personnel file. The academy is an alternative sentencing program for boys aged 13 to 17 run by the Boys and Girls Clubs of South Alabama, according to the agency's Web site. Messages left by the Register at the academy were not immediately returned on Thursday.
On Sept. 29, 2003 he was fired as a reserve officer, but he immediately appealed the decision saying the grounds he was terminated under were not true, according to a letter he wrote to the department.
Price was accused of several things, including carrying a gun without a permit and skipping meetings. In December -- 84 days later -- he was hired as a full-time police officer with the department, according to documents in the personnel file.
Throughout his two-year tenure as a police officer, he had received praise from a Creola police official for his involvement in an arrest. In November 2005, he received a glowing recommendation from Council President Troy Ephriam to serve as a juvenile detective. In the letter, Ephriam wrote that Price was "without a doubt a bright and shining star within the community" and that "he is a man of God with great character and high integrity."
Later that month, his handling of a traffic stop earned him a reprimand for insubordination.
In January, he received a "satisfactory" review by the Mobile County Personnel Board.
Chief Battiste said the department received a complaint in January from the woman whom Price charged with disorderly conduct and possession of marijuana. The incident was immediately looked into by internal investigators from the department, Battiste said.
Shortly after department internal investigators approached Price with the allegations, he submitted his resignation, Battiste said.
Mobile County prosecutors are investigating allegations that then-Officer Terry Price solicited sexual favors from a woman he arrested on charges of disorderly conduct and marijuana possession, Prichard Police Chief Lawrence Battiste said.
Asked about the arrest Thursday, Battiste said his department could not find the marijuana Price allegedly confiscated from the woman. Battiste declined further comment about the incident and referred questions about the investigation to the Mobile County District Attorney's Office.
Price, 33, has not been charged with any wrongdoing. Mobile County District Attorney John Tyson Jr. said on Thursday that his office has received the case file but has not begun its inquiry, yet.
An internal investigation by the Prichard department has been completed and is among the information given to the prosecutors, Battiste said.
Price, who also serves as pastor of the Greater Zion Hope Primitive Baptist Church, could not be reached for comment. The phone at the church has been disconnected with no forwarding number. Price became pastor of the church in 2001, according to a religion listing in the Mobile Register.
"The responsibility of leading God's people has now grown to a greater demand of my attention as a full time Pastor," Price wrote in his resignation letter. "As I strive to achieve what God has laid out before me, I ask that you pray for me as I continue to pray for you and the City of Prichard."
Price was hired as a Prichard reserve officer in 2002 after being fired from a position at the Camp Martin Youth Leadership Academy in Mobile for "violating a pick-up order," according to documents in Price's personnel file. The academy is an alternative sentencing program for boys aged 13 to 17 run by the Boys and Girls Clubs of South Alabama, according to the agency's Web site. Messages left by the Register at the academy were not immediately returned on Thursday.
On Sept. 29, 2003 he was fired as a reserve officer, but he immediately appealed the decision saying the grounds he was terminated under were not true, according to a letter he wrote to the department.
Price was accused of several things, including carrying a gun without a permit and skipping meetings. In December -- 84 days later -- he was hired as a full-time police officer with the department, according to documents in the personnel file.
Throughout his two-year tenure as a police officer, he had received praise from a Creola police official for his involvement in an arrest. In November 2005, he received a glowing recommendation from Council President Troy Ephriam to serve as a juvenile detective. In the letter, Ephriam wrote that Price was "without a doubt a bright and shining star within the community" and that "he is a man of God with great character and high integrity."
Later that month, his handling of a traffic stop earned him a reprimand for insubordination.
In January, he received a "satisfactory" review by the Mobile County Personnel Board.
Chief Battiste said the department received a complaint in January from the woman whom Price charged with disorderly conduct and possession of marijuana. The incident was immediately looked into by internal investigators from the department, Battiste said.
Shortly after department internal investigators approached Price with the allegations, he submitted his resignation, Battiste said.