FAYETTEVILLE — A Washington County jailer who posed nude for Playboy.com lost her job Wednesday.
Jessie Lunderby has been suspended with pay since June 20 as a result of her provocative photos on the website, which named her Cyber Girl of the Week.
Sheriff Tim Helder, in a five-page letter to Lunderby released late Wednesday night, told Lunderby her actions were interfering with the job the people of Washington County elected him to do. Helder called the firing a business decision, not discipline of an employee. He also said Lunderby's actions have disrupted the workplace and affected public perception of the sheriff's office.
"I am moving ahead without the distraction/disruption that your now-public nude modeling hobby/career brings into our workplace, if you were to continue as our county detention employee," Helder wrote.
In the letter, Helder said he anticipates there will "likely be much interest" about Lunderby among the inmates held in the Washington County Detention Center and that would impede her ability to perform her jailer duties.
More information will be available Thursday and in Friday's newspaper.