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Hillsborough Officer Receives Support in Sexual Misconduct Investigation

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The PBA said that if they had not taken the cse, the officer who exposed the sexual misconduct would have been fired. (WRAL-TV5 News)
RALEIGH — There is a new player in the sexual misconduct investigation into the Hillsborough Police Department.

The Police Benevolent Association is taking sides with an officer who complained to superiors about the alleged misconduct and was later suspended.

This situation is one of the most important cases that the PBA is working on. There is a full time investigator and an attorney working on the case. Hillsborough is conducting its own investigation, but many want Hillsborough to call the SBI.

"The member came to us because of the fear of retaliation of reporting what he felt to be very inappropriate, if not illegal conduct," said John Midgette, who is with the Police Benevolent Association.

The PBA said that if the group had not step in, the whistleblower in the Hillsborough police department might have been fired.

The association said that the officer who first raised the allegation about sex in the police department and public displays of lude sexual behavior of fellow officers, is now on administrative leave with pay.

"We are watching to make sure that our member is properly protected, and that the investigation goes forward the way citizens and tax payers expect it to," Midgette said.

The tax payers and leaders are following the case as well. Several members of the town council believe that the police investigation is growing to big, and that Hillsborough should call in the SBI.

"This could make us or break us," Hillsborough Town Council member Evelyn Lloyd said. "It's making us look bad, and people are upset, but I think that if it's there, and there can't be too many officers involved, and if that's the case then some outside agency probably could solve it."

Mayor Horace Johnson said, "I'm certainly not going to stick my head in the sand, and wish that this thing would go away, and say that it didn't happen. Something happened, otherwise I have a list of names and phone calls from people that are willing to come forward at some point in time and begin to bring this thing to closure."

Before there is closure, the town has to separate fact from fiction, and the town manager said that process could take up to two weeks.

Sources close to the investigation said that some of the major players may be asked to take polygraph test.

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