Hardy's recently appointed mayor fired the town's police chief last week, which has led to a volley of public criticism from the men aimed at each other.
Mayor Jason Jackson, appointed in August to serve the two remaining years of Nina Thornton's term after her resignation, terminated Police Chief Scott Rose after accusing him of fraud, City Attorney Hollie Greenway said Monday.
Tamara Taylor, who served as assistant chief under Rose, was named interim chief.
Rose, who took over the department in February, denied any wrongdoing and accused Jackson of trying to sabotage his career because of personal disagreements.
"I don't have anything to hide," Rose said in a telephone interview Monday. "It's a witch hunt; that's what it is."
Rose's ouster is the most recent in a series of exits by public officials in the town of 772 along the Spring River. Two aldermen vacated their seats last year, Treasurer Carolyn Groves left in July, and Thornton resigned a week after Groves.
Jackson and Greenway have said they plan to request an Arkansas State Police investigation of Rose's actions while heading the Police Department, but no investigation had been requested as of Monday afternoon.
Greenway said Rose falsified an insurance claim related to an accident involving a vehicle and an on-duty Hardy police officer. Records obtained by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette through a Freedom of Information Act request show that then-assistant chief Taylor was listed as a driver on an accident summary, but time logs show she was off duty at the time of the accident.
Rose, whose father was Hardy's longtime police chief, admitted to the error but denied knowingly submitting the incorrect information.
"My understanding is that the evidence will show differently," Greenway said, noting that city officials are investigating several other accusations of wrongdoing against Rose.
In a Jan. 3 email obtained by the newspaper, an employee in the legal department of Altus Global Trade Solutions, a Louisiana-based collections company, informed Jackson that Altus was investigating Rose's business, CDS Marketing LLC, "concerning product that he had ordered from two of our clients," totaling more than $25,000.
Greenway, referring to the email, said Rose's business became subject to that investigation after it failed to reimburse Code 3, an emergency equipment company, for products sold to several Arkansas law enforcement agencies. Rose, who served as a sales representative for Code 3 through his marketing company, was paid by those agencies for the equipment, Greenway said.
Rose acknowledged that he has encountered some hardships with his business, but he said that was because of his dedication to protecting Hardy residents. He said he plans to repay all the money he owes through his company.
He rejected the notion that the city could be held liable for his business dealings. He said Jackson has been "out to get [him]" because Jackson believed Rose was behind efforts to hold a special mayoral election.
"I never supported it," Rose said, adding that he and Jackson had been longtime friends. "I just said that people deserve the right to vote on who runs their city. A democracy is a democracy."
Jackson did not return a message left Monday at Hardy City Hall.
Metro on 01/10/2017