BELLE — During an open Dec. 13 meeting, Belle aldermen chose not to address a recording presented by the sheriff as evidence supporting allegations that Mayor Daryl White, Jr., made false statements regarding his awareness of a city police officer under investigation prior to his hiring.

Maries County Sheriff Chris Heitman asked White to address comments reported in the Dec. 6 edition of The Maries County Advocate. White had commented, “We did vet him pretty good before we hired him.” 

White was discussing a city police officer who was under investigation for allegations of substantiated sexual harassment at the time he was hired. The same officer was terminated from the Maries County Sheriff’s Department over the incident.

Heitman had contacted the city in advance to be on the meeting agenda. White called Heitman under public discussion. Heitman said he wanted to clarify statements White had made to The Advocate in the Dec. 6 edition.

“You said my Chief Deputy (Scott John) came to you at your office, right?” Heitman asked.

White said, “Uh-huh.”

“To talk to you about the employee under investigation?” Heitman asked.

White said that was correct.

“And at any time before that, had you done any research on that employee?” Heitman asked.

White said John didn’t come to his office to discuss the employee.

“The day he come to the office, I ask him — which officer are you talking about?” White asked.

Heitman said they were talking about the officer under investigation.

“I ask him what he could tell me about that and he said he had a complaint. And I said ‘can you provide me with any kind of documentation or anything?’ and at that point, he said ‘no,’” White said.

Heitman asked the aldermen if they were told the same thing. Aldermen nodded and agreed and said “pretty much.”

“Lucky for that deputy, I have him record those conversations between you and him,” Heitman began. “And that’s not at all what was said. In fact, Mayor White said he did his own research before and was aware of an additional investigation I wasn’t even aware of. I can play the recording for the council if the council would like it. It’s a short clip, about 20 seconds. Would you like me to?”

Aldermen did not speak. A few voices from the crowd asked the sheriff to play the recording. “Sure,” White said. “Is it time and dated?”

Heitman said the recording is the only meeting White had with John regarding the issue. White claimed they discussed the matter twice.

“You’re going to date it because you were talking about how Joe (Turnbough, former marshal and police chief) came to you and this is about the same time that Joe resigned.”

Turnbough resigned on Nov. 1, 2022.

“That would not be the first time we talked then, that would be the second time,” White said, claiming he spoke with John even before Nov. 1, 2022.

“Luckily, they are all recorded, so that’s ok,” Heitman said.

“Do you have the first one then?” White asked.

Heitman said he’d play the first one. The recording began with White speaking about the officers. John clarified that it was Erican Sugg and Mark Morgan who applied to the city.

“It concerned me that they was released from your department,” White continued. “Joe, it started at court last month, Joe was pushing for me to hire Sugg and he introduced me to him. But after doing a little research behind it, I understand that he is kind of under investigation by about three different places right now for sexually gropin’ people and stuff. So, with the history we’ve had in Belle, we don’t need nothin’ to do with that.”

Heitman turned off the recording.

“So, that right there contradicts and proves, I’m sorry, that Daryl White lied to the paper. He’s lied to the aldermen and he’s lied to the public and this is just one of the many cases,” Heitman said. “I felt obligated to bring it before the council and make you guys aware. This contradicts everything that he has stated for the paper, which is a shame. Does anyone have any questions for me?”

No one on the board spoke.

Heitman later commented that he was surprised the board didn’t react to the recording.

“I was surprised the city council didn’t act concerned about the mayor lying to the public in the paper,” Heitman said.

When asked about a copy of the previous conversation White alleged happened, Heitman said no such meeting took place.

“No, absolutely no,” Heitman said.

The board did not converse about the recording during the open session. Any discussion regarding an elected official must take place in open session, as they are not considered an employee of the city.

Jeanette Struemph, the former Ward 1 Alderman who stepped down in July due to health reasons, said the mayor did not share with the board that Sugg was under investigation at the time of his Nov. 18, 2022, hire date.

“When we went to hire him, I am not too sure on how he come to us but Daryl said there was no reason why we shouldn’t hire him,” Struemph said. “I don’t remember Daryl saying anything about talking to the county about why Sugg was fired. I knew nothing of it. Whether he was really let go or not, I didn’t know. I thought he was coming to Belle from Maries County.”

Sugg is still actively employed by the city of Belle.