Millington chief resigns, officer fired
Shake-up comes amid investigation into missing money
Millington Police Chief Frank Tennant resigned and Lt. Tully Reed was terminated Tuesday amid a state investigation into missing money seized by the police department months ago from a dead man’s home.
Millington City Manager Ed Haley announced on the city’s website Tuesday the police chief’s resignation along with news that a veteran police officer with the department was fired for dereliction of duties. Haley said others may follow.
Sources with knowledge of the city investigation say another high-ranking officer also will be terminated.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation was called in last month to investigate what happened to almost $20,000 that was in police custody. On Tuesday, city officials said they are reviewing the practices of the police department.
“I have the greatest respect for those who serve in law enforcement,” Haley said in the statement. “It is a tough job. I am grateful for those who have served this community, but make no mistake, no one is immune. Where problems are found, the city of Millington will take swift and decisive action to correct.”
Millington City Atty. Charles Perkins confirmed Tuesday that Reed was the officer terminated as part of the city’s investigation into the matter. Perkins said the dismissal was not based on the TBI investigation into the missing money, but rather management shortcomings. Perkins said Reed was “directly in charge of the evidence room.”
The city attorney said there was no system to sign in and out of the property room and “no accountability of evidence.”
Perkins said the same management shortcomings led to Tennant’s decision to resign.
“It has to do with management,” Perkins said. “It’s not directly involving the money. It has nothing to do with that. It was management of the department.”
In a statement late Tuesday, Tennant said city officials “have undermined and circumvented his authority to the detriment of the City of Millington and the detriment of the criminal investigation to locate the miss-
ing money.”
He noted that neither he nor the two other officers implicated in the case have been accused of wrongdoing. “The simple fact is that there was a theft from behind a 500-pound steel door in the secured Property Room and the City of Millington chose to vilify career law enforcement officers with exemplary records instead of waiting for the guilty party or parties to be identified.”
Tennant, who was hired last August, said he was brought in “to rescue and rebuild the Millington Police Department that was suffering from low morale, incredibly high turnover and institutional neglect.”
Tennant said when he discovered the money was missing, he immediately notified Shelby County Dist. Atty. Amy Weirich and requested the TBI investigate. He added that he “takes full responsibility for his actions and the actions of the officers under his command during his 34-year career in law enforcement.”
The Mayor and Board of Aldermen will meet Thursday night in a special called meeting to discuss replacing the police chief, Haley said.
According to the city charter, the city manager makes recommendations to the board for all department heads, including the police chief, said alderman Thomas McGhee.
“It’s imperative that we move in a positive way toward re-establishing credibility within the Millington Police Department,” McGhee said about the upcoming meeting.
The shake-up in the police department comes on the heels of $19,962 being seized by officers from the home of Jimmy Wayne Smith on April 28. The money was discovered missing in August.
Smith, 59, was found dead from a heart attack inside his mobile home.
A friend called police to the scene after she couldn’t get Smith to answer the door.
Police came to the home on Brinkley Street and searched the mobile home, where they found the nearly $20,000 stuffed in medicine bottles and other places throughout the home.
When Smith’s brother, James Smith, asked for the cash to be returned to him because he was his brother’s caretaker, officers told him to get an attorney.
He did and five months later he was still waiting on the cash to be returned when he learned that $13,000 of the money was missing.
TBI launched an investigation into the missing cash that is still ongoing.
Dismayed and angry, Smith told The Commercial Appeal last week that he felt the police department was “crooked” and that it or the city of Millington should give him all the money back.
Smith said the city sent a check to his lawyer for the full $19,962, and he planned to meet Tuesday to get it.
“I am glad it is settled,” Smith said. “I can move on with my life now and put that bad chapter behind me.”
As far as the police department shake-up, Smith said he had no comment.
“All I want to do is go on with my life,” he said. “That’s something for them to deal with.”