2 FORMER CALHOUN OFFICERS INDICTED

CALHOUN, Tenn. -- A former Calhoun police chief and a former reserve police
officer have been indicted by a McMinn County grand jury on charges of
official misconduct.

That comes less than a week after an indictment from Grundy County was
returned against current Police Chief Christopher Nicholson for alleged
official misconduct in that county when he worked for the Palmer Police
Department.

Now charged by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation are Bobby Joe Petty
Jr., 32, and John Joseph Trippett, 37, both of Calhoun. Mr. Trippett also
is charged with one count of forgery.

Mr. Petty is a former Calhoun city police chief, who resigned after
admitting earlier this year to city officials he used drug-fund money to
try and cover bad checks written by his wife.

That began a TBI investigation which discovered an automatic pistol, owned
by the city but issued to Mr. Trippett, was missing.

"I knew about the missing gun," said City Manager Joe Bryan. "Once it was
assigned to our property, it was used as a backup gun."

The weapon was checked out to Mr. Trippett, who left the department last
May and took a position with the McMinn County Sheriff's Department. He was
an unpaid reserve officer while with Calhoun.

When asked by Calhoun officials to produce the weapon, Mr. Trippett did not
respond and the TBI began to investigate. Authorities charged in the
indictment that the weapon was sold by Mr. Trippett.

And, according to the indictments, the investigation led to allegations Mr.
Trippett forged a letter of employment and other information. He was fired
from the Sheriff's Department.

"Joe (Petty) and others have been very cooperative," said Mr. Bryan. "He
said Mr. Petty's situation grew out of desperation."

Chief Nicholson was indicted last week for allegedly seeking money for the
county drug fund from a motorist he had stopped while he was an officer in
Palmer, Tenn. Mr. Bryan said the chief says he is innocent and will
continue working on the force in Calhoun.

"Perhaps the best thing to look at is that we have been audited now for two
years, and the only thing has been the missing gun," said Mr. Bryan.

A TBI official in Nashville, spokesperson Jean Broadwell, confirmed the
indictments were issued for official misconduct and forgery, but declined
to release further information. Attempts to contact the defendants for
comment were unsuccessful.

Mr. Trippett is free on a $2,000 bond and Mr. Petty is free on his own
recognizance. They are to appear for arraignment on Dec. 3 in McMinn County
Criminal Court.