Chief Deputy responds to accusations
The following letter was posted around 6 a.m. on Dec. 11 on Scott John For Maries County Sheriff Facebook page. Maries County Chief Deputy John is responding to individual accusations against his department surrounding the investigation and subsequent civil complaints brought against Belle Police Officer Erican Sugg on Oct. 20. Sugg is named as the respondent in the ongoing case brought by the Department of Public Safety (DPS), prosecuted by the Missouri Attorney General’s Office and heard by the Administrative Hearing Commission.
BY Chief Deputy Scott John
BELLE — On July 14, 2022, I took a complaint of an inappropriate and unwelcomed contact between Erican Sugg (a Sheriff’s Corporal at the time) and a female coworker at the Sheriff’s Office, who was filing the complaint. While looking into the details of the reported incident, I discovered a second female coworker who reported receiving unsolicited and inappropriate messages from Erican Sugg. I found the first incident had a credible witness who confirmed witnessing the complaint as it was reported, and the second complaint was substantiated by viewing the messages still on the dispatcher’s personal phone. To protect the privacy of the victim, Sheriff Heitman ordered me to complete my report on a password protected word document instead of our normal reporting system which was accessible by all staff members. I was instructed to document all the details of the complaint, document my findings, and save it on my drive of the Sheriff’s Office server. Once completed, I reviewed these findings with Sheriff Heitman, and he agreed with my assessment that Erican Sugg should be terminated. He was terminated on July 20, 2022, at the beginning of his shift. He was not suspended during the investigation, which would normally occur, as he was out of the office on vacation during this time. July 20th was his first day back on duty after the complaint was filed. In the State of Missouri, it is required of all law enforcement agencies to report any change in employment status of a police officer associated with their POST roster. Upon termination, a summary of details leading up to the termination is required. This is accomplished by logging onto the Department of Public Safety website and submitting an online form. I included a summary of details in my online report as required. I was later contacted by an investigator from the Peace Officer Standards & Training (POST) requesting to speak with me for further details and to request contact information from the victim and witness. I was contacted again by POST late in 2022 for an audio recording they knew I possessed and informed me they intended to involve the Attorney General. In the spring of 2023, I was contacted by Gabriela M Gonzalez Perez, an Assistant Prosecutor for the Attorney General’s Office, and the Attorney who filed the complaint with the Missouri AHC. Ms. Perez reviewed my report with me asking only a few questions, mainly about the timeline of the agency issued laptop being returned by Erican Sugg. She did inform me they anticipated filing a complaint, which they have now done.
In July of this year, on the Facebook page of the Belle Police Department, Belle Sgt. Mark Morgan accused Sheriff Heitman of allowing me to “conduct a so-called investigation” into a complaint lodged by a female employee which led to Erican Sugg being terminated. He added this was done “without any due process or any evidence of a fair or impartial investigation.” These statements are simply not true. Additionally, The day Erican Sugg was terminated I explained to Mark Morgan why Erican Sugg had been terminated. He was informed of the complaints filed by coworkers against Sugg of inappropriate behavior which I had found to be substantiated and I had terminated Sugg only after discussing it with Sheriff Heitman.
It should be noted, the last two sentences under the section titled “Private Life” in Sheriff Heitman’s Policy Manual, which sets the standards for the Sheriff’s Office, are as follows: “Off-duty conduct is very important with my Office and, as my representative to the community, you are held to a higher standard. **DO NOT let your actions off-duty terminate your career, use common sense**.” This policy takes into account some employees may have lifestyles different than others and that honest mistakes in everyday decisions may occur, however, blatant ethical behavior or violating the peace of others is not tolerated.
Which brings us to how he became an officer for the City of Belle, and it wasn’t due to a lack of vetting. Daryl White, the Mayor of Belle, stated in the paper this past week, “we did vet him pretty good before we hired him.” He added, “he came with good recommendations, with the exception of Scott John” referring to a meeting I had with him in his office where he informed me Mark Morgan and Erican Sugg had both applied. Mayor White is not being truthful. He had negative information about Erican Sugg and instead took the word of Mark Morgan, who assumed he knew the truth of this matter even though he was not privy to any of the actual investigative details. Because of that, Mayor White apparently threw away all the warnings he heard during his research on Erican Sugg and hired him, even after Mayor White admitted knowing Sugg was not the type of officer the City of Belle needed.
After knowing everything, Mayor White stated in last week’s paper that since hiring Erican Sugg, “…he has been a model police officer and employee for Belle.” Mayor White then proceeded to act as if he has no knowledge of any wrongdoing by Sugg and proceeded to go into politician mode by stating, and I quote, “I believe this is directed to deter the attention away from the many lawsuits and investigations being held against the Sheriff’s department. I also believe that the timing of this is pretty coincidental with the Sheriff’s election sign-up and stuff. I think there is something else going on.” He then doubles down and repeats, “I do want to point out that he has been a model employee for the last year…”
He said all of this while knowing everything I have shared plus, and what may not be widely known publicly, is that Erican Sugg is currently banned from a business inside the city limits of Belle for inappropriate behavior. He defines that as a “model police officer and employee?” Not by my definition, nor yours I would assume. I would venture to guess Mayor White knows he is wrong but is working damage control. Probably the same reason Mark Morgan deleted within hours of this week’s article (in full demonstration of “transparency and integrity”) every picture of Erican Sugg involved in his campaign over this past year from his campaign page.
Mayor White knows there is no way we can influence the timing of a complaint filing by the Missouri Attorney General. In fact, we aren’t even privy to the details of the process once we file our report and have been waiting a year for this to come out. I have worked with both the accused and the accuser in this situation. Even if I hadn’t received confirmation from a witness who was present (and is related to Erican Sugg and not the victim), I know who I would believe and who I think is not fit to wear the badge of a peace officer.
Thank you and God bless,
Scott
John’s full message is on his Facebook page. It has been edited here for space. The Advocate contacted Mark Morgan, when asked for a response he declined at this time.
