A Lonoke County sheriff's office detective and his wife were fired in late June after investigators learned that the pair had become involved in a Cabot police investigation involving relatives, Sheriff John Staley said Thursday.
Steve Morgan, a Lonoke County investigator and former deputy with the Pulaski County sheriff's office, and his wife, Misty Morgan, an office administrator for the sheriff, were fired June 23, the day they were arrested and charged with illegally acquiring records related to a child-abuse case in late April in Cabot, Staley said.
After an Arkansas State Police investigation, the pair were charged with three felony counts of release or disclosure to an unauthorized person and one misdemeanor count of acquiring records from a children's advocacy center, hospital or clinic concerning child abuse or neglect.
The pair, put on administrative leave once the sheriff's office was alerted to their activities, were fired as a matter of integrity, Staley said.
"It's basically about trust," Staley said. "You're going to say you're [involved] in an investigation ... we don't get into investigations unless requested."
According to an arrest affidavit, Steve Morgan went to the Wade Knox Child Advocacy Center on April 28 and asked staff members whether they had recently interviewed a specific child regarding a molestation complaint made to the Cabot Police Department.
Morgan informed staff that his agency was getting involved in the investigation, even though it wasn't, according to Staley and Cabot police officials.
He asked for a copy of the child's interview, according to state police investigators, and only then mentioned that the child victim was a relative of his.
"This raised a red flag for both [staff members] due to the fact the center does not release information to family members who are in law enforcement," the affidavit said.
Eventually word of Morgan's visit reached Lonoke County Prosecuting Attorney Chuck Graham who then, along with Staley and Cabot police officials, asked state police to look into Morgan.
When Morgan met with a special investigator from the state police, he handed over the paper file, as well as a DVD of the child's interview.
Inside the file were also a number of Arkansas Crime Information Center reports on three people, also relatives of the child.
Unauthorized or personal use of the state's crime database is a felony, officials said, but Morgan told them he and his wife were asked to run the names by other relatives.
According to Morgan, his wife's father asked them to do something because the family was "concerned that these allegations were not receiving enough attention and they wanted to know what was going on with the [investigation]."
Morgan said his wife ran the reports, but Misty Morgan denied it, and denied having ever used the information center, since she is a not a certified law enforcement officer.
An interview with a dispatcher with the sheriff's office showed that Misty Morgan often requested crime information center reports from dispatchers on her or her husband's behalf.
According to the center's records, Misty Morgan's name was on the request, investigators said.
The overreach into the Cabot police investigation is not the first time that Morgan's career has been affected by family.
On Dec. 12, 2009, Pulaski County investigators found a burned out truck parked at a dead-end road near Sweet Home, just half a mile from the home of Robert Gatrell, Morgan's stepson.
Inside were two bodies, including that of an infant child, which were identified days later through DNA testing to be Michael Palmer, who had been shot several times with a shotgun, and his daughter Hannah, who was alive when the truck was set ablaze with an accelerant.
The investigation eventually led to Gatrell and his younger cousin, Daniel Gatrell, and the two were charged in the slayings, which investigators said was over a set of stolen tires.
The day of the slayings, according to arrest affidavits, Robert Gatrell went to his mother, Morgan's wife at the time, and told her everything and would later complain to her about depression and nightmares about the slayings.
In early January, Steve Morgan, who was then a Pulaski County deputy, told investigators he got a call from Robert Gatrell on Dec. 16, 2009, just four days after the bodies were burned, claiming that "he was suicidal and had placed a shotgun in his mouth."
Morgan said he went over to his stepson's home and took him to Baptist Health Medical Center for treatment, and took a pair of shotguns and a .50-caliber black powder rifle for "safekeeping."
At the hospital, Morgan learned that in addition to being suicidal, his stepson had second-degree burns on his back and arm, burns that Morgan said he was told were from his stepson's attempt to burn some trash on his property.
The week of Robert Gatrell's Jan. 21, 2010 arrest, Morgan was put on paid leave by Pulaski County sheriff's office. According to sheriff's office officials, the deputy was cooperative with investigators and never faced any criminal charges.
However, the day after the Jan. 26 arrest of Daniel Gatrell, Morgan abruptly resigned from the agency. He ended his nearly four-year tenure with the agency with a single-sentence note, according to earlier reports.
Robert and Daniel Gatrell pleaded guilty to charges and are both in prison.
Staley was unable to provide copies of Morgan, or Misty Morgan's termination letters from the Lonoke County agency and said he was not sure if they planned on filing a grievance with the agency.
Graham, whose office is handling the case, said he will push for just one felony charge for the release and disclosure of the records and one misdemeanor count of accessing privileged records concerning a report of child abuse.
The case has yet to be filed in Lonoke County Circuit Court.
Cabot police officials said they have recently completed the child abuse investigation that drew Morgan's attention, and Graham said that file is under review at his office.
Metro on 07/05/2014