An Arkansas narcotics detective accused of having inappropriate communications with a confidential informant resigned last week.
Miguel Cordova started his second stint with the Benton County sheriff's office July 2. He resigned the first time in January 2015 after being questioned in an internal investigation about his relationship with the informant.
"We accepted his resignation, and he is no longer employed here," said Sgt. Shannon Jenkins, a spokesman for the sheriff's office.
Earlier this month, Cordova testified at a hearing in a murder case that he shared inappropriate text messages and photographs with a confidential informant in 2014. The informant is a in the witness capital-murder case of Cody Wise, who is accused of killing 53-year-old Ronald Lee Kultgen Sr. of Garfield.
Cordova worked as a Bethel Heights police officer after leaving the sheriff's office the first time.
Benton County Prosecutor Nathan Smith notified the sheriff's office by letter last week that his office will inform all defense attorneys with any cases involving Cordova of his past conduct.
Cordova denied that anything inappropriate happened between him and the informant when first questioned in the internal investigation, according to Smith's letter. Cordova later acknowledged the communications happened when he was asked about the explicit messages, the prosector wrote.
The decision means defense attorneys will be aware of Cordova's history, and he could face questioning about the incident if one of his cases went to trial.
At the Aug. 8 hearing, Wise's attorney, Drew Ledbetter, handed Cordova a stack of documents and told Cordova the pages reflected text messages in which he asked for nude photos of the woman at least 100 times. Cordova agreed those exchanges were inappropriate.