Lawsuit: Feds looking into JCPD corruption allegations

GREENEVILLE, Tenn. (WJHL) — New court documents claim the Johnson City Police Department (JCPD) has been the subject of a federal public corruption probe related to the Sean Williams sexual assault cases and federal lawsuits tied to Williams.

A motion filed Thursday mentions a federal investigation. It was submitted by attorneys for alleged sexual assault victims of Williams who have sued Johnson City and several former and current police officers. Based on available, publicly confirmable information, News Channel 11 can’t determine with certainty whether the investigation is complete or ongoing.

The motion for a protective order relates to subpoenas a private investigator working for one of those officers, retired Captain Kevin Peters, served to plaintiffs on Feb. 13. A number of the women have shifted their status in the suit to being members in a class action but not “representatives” — and their lawyers argue they shouldn’t be subject to subpoenas and other discovery efforts in the case.

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Daniel Rader IV, Peters’ attorney, has argued the opposite. As the parties continued their legal tussle over a 43-point request for everything from emails and texts to reports filed by the women, Rader and Peters allegedly hired the investigator to find the women and serve the subpoenas.

A footnote in the motion notes that after their clients called and expressed their distress over being served papers at home or work, the plaintiffs’ attorneys stepped up to provide some requested materials.

Those included “for example, Plaintiffs’ counsel’s communications with the prosecution team for the federal public corruption investigation of the Johnson City Police Department, which spanned 520 pages of emails and attachments…”

The initial June 2023 lawsuit on behalf of nine “Jane Doe” alleged victims claimed the JCPD essentially enabled Williams to conduct a sex trafficking operation — allegedly drugging and raping dozens of women — when he lived in a downtown Johnson City apartment.

It accuses police of looking the other way, and in some cases benefiting financially for doing so. The City of Johnson City and the JCPD have denied all allegations.

News Channel 11 requested confirmation or a statement regarding a federal investigation from the City of Johnson City. City Manager Cathy Ball provided this reply:

‘Subpoenas distressed the recipients’

Through Rader, Peters has continued to insist on serving the subpoenas on all the alleged victims, not just those who are now considered “class representatives,” whom the plaintiff’s lawyers have said are fair game for subpoenas.

He has filed a motion to compel them to answer the subpoenas.

But Heather Moore Collins, Vanessa Baehr-Jones and Elizabeth Kramer — the plaintiffs’ attorneys — argued that multiple legal findings weigh against subjecting the class members who aren’t representatives to subpoenas or other discovery. They claimed everything from the huge number of requests to the technical expertise needed to comply with them make them invalid, and that much of the information sought isn’t relevant to the case.

Judge approves changes to Jane Doe lawsuit over Sean Williams alleged rapes

They also argued that Peters and Rader acted wrongly in unilaterally sending the investigator out with paperwork that said “YOU ARE COMMANDED to produce” the materials by March 14.

“Defendant Peters did not seek leave of Court to serve the subpoenas, nor did he make any attempt to negotiate their contents or method of service with Plaintiffs’ counsel in advance,” Moore Collins wrote in a declaration that also included redacted copies of the subpoenas.

The motion, meanwhile, noted that “Aware that the subpoena targets are survivors of violent crimes who understood their identities to be confidential, Peters had a private investigator visit their homes and workplaces out of the blue.”

The motion added that after getting “several alarmed phone calls” from clients, their attorneys quickly communicated with Rader and “agreed to accept service in exchange for Peters’ counsel calling off the private investigator.

“Tendering the subpoenas in this manner distressed the recipients and caused them reasonable fear that their identities were no longer protected.”

It said requests for communications between the alleged victims and Williams, and “any communications with others he assaulted (regardless of the subject matter) … have no apparent relevance to the claims and defenses in the lawsuit and appear intended to chill survivors in their pursuit of justice.”

COMPLETE COVERAGE OF THE SEAN WILLIAMS CASE

The motion seeks an order prohibiting discovery on those unnamed class members “absent leave of the court.”

Johnson City and all defendants have denied all claims in the lawsuit and a parallel one filed by former federal prosecutor Kat Dahl.

Williams was eventually charged with multiple counts of child rape and faces an August trial in federal court on production of child pornography charges.

A search warrant affidavit also reveals he is alleged to have possessed digital files showing him sexually assaulting more than 50 different women at his Johnson City apartment when he was arrested in Western North Carolina nearly a year ago after almost two years on the run.

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