MILLERSVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Millersville Police arrested former Millersville mayor Tim Lassiter Tuesday night on charges of tampering with government records and criminal simulation.
Lassiter posted $10,000 bond and was released a few hours after his arrest, meanwhile family outside the Sumner County jail told NewsChannel 5 they still weren't clear on why Lassiter was arrested.
Earlier in the day, Millersville assistant police chief Shawn Taylor spoke at the city commissioner's meeting and said they anticipated several arrests as part of "Operation Clean Sweep."
"We'll be executing our first arrest warrants tonight. What we're finding is we have some problems with things like the fire department that was built and potential problems with funding of the fire department. We have issues with the permits and how they were generated and who generated them. We have issues with the fire department not being up to code. That means that the fire department can not be used and nobody can sleep in that fire department. Basically they were going to lock the doors on our fire department," Taylor said.
Taylor wouldn't take questions and while it's still not clear if Lassiter is a suspect in this investigation, we know he was arrested roughly three hours later.
Millersville commissioner Cristina Templet joined Lassiter's family outside the jail and says she's not convinced any of allegations made against Lassiter are legitimate. She claims the arrest warrant wasn't signed by a judge until much later.
"It's surreal. I can't even believe this is going on. I have a lot of community members reaching out. My phone was blowing up. It's just horrible. We believe that the truth will come out. The city can't keep doing what they're doing. They've gotten away with a lot, but I do not believe that they can continue at this rate destroying people's lives and not expecting people to stand up for themselves," Templet said.
Templet went on to say, "Tim is an amazing human being. His wife is an amazing human being and I think what the city of Millersville has done to him is disgusting."
Lassiter was one of many city officials who stepped down from their positions following a lawsuit filed against the city in 2022.
The lawsuit filed on behalf of two former Millersville Police officers claimed they were bullied out of a job and faced racial discrimination.
Lassiter told NewsChannel 5 Investigates at the time that he based his decision to step down on personal reasons with his family and nothing more.
What has happened in Millersville?
Millersville — its government and police — has become a complex story I have been covering for more than four years.
This started in 2020 when Millersville officers accused the then-chief of evidence tampering. Then, two officers sued the city and the police chief in 2021.
As a result, the mayor stepped down and other city officials — including the police chief named in the lawsuit.
After the shakeup in the police department, I discovered that the next chief and assistant chief were working illegally as laid out by the Tennessee POST Commission. Investigators confirmed timesheet issues, which showed they were working less than were allowed. At the time, the chief and assistant chief were just part-time officers. They both resigned.
This is when the elements in this story happen in quick succession.
Just after I did a story about them swearing in another new police chief — who moved from Texas to take the job — the Millersville City Commission fired the city manager. That city manager they fired signed off on the timesheets created by the officers who working more time than they should.
An interim city manager was put in place. Her name is Tina Tobin.
Tobin — who I figured out didn't have a background in city government — went on to fire the new police chief from Texas, the chief of the fire department and the city attorney. In response to the firing of the fire chief, 17 fire personnel walked off the job leaving the city in limbo for emergency service calls.
While Tobin was serving as interim, candidates for the full time job started coming into the city. One name was familiar in Gabrielle Hanson. She's the woman who ran for City of Franklin, where my colleague Phil Williams tracked her through the mayoral election. Hanson, who lost her bid for Franklin mayor last year after a series of controversies that included her ties to white supremacists, said her interest in the city manager position began after a recent trip to help relocate an industrial real estate client to Millersville.
After learning the candidates for city manager, I looked at Tobin's current resume, which showed she had no experience running a city and didn’t even live in Millersville. That story was published on Friday. She resigned on a Sunday.
Now, the newest police chief is the interim city manager.
We know that many names are dropped relating to Millersville and its city government.
Because of that, we have compiled a list of who is who among those who have been involved.
Tim Lassiter: The former mayor of Millersville stepped down amid a lawsuit filed against the city in 2021 by two former police officers who claimed they were intimidated out of the job.
Dustin Carr: The former police chief of Millersville resigned in late 2022 after the lawsuit continued to move in the courts. The lawsuit was moving through the courts when he resigned.
Glenn Alred: The former Millersville assistant police chief who resigned in 2023. He was under scrutiny by the Tennessee POST Commission launched an investigation into claims that he was working full-time without being a certified cop.
Melvin Brown: The former police resigned after the Tennessee POST Commission said the department was running "illegally."
Scott Avery: The former city manager who was fired in late 2023 after only having been there around a year. There were was little explanation by Millersville City Commissioners, who have the hiring and firing power for the position.
Jack Freedle: The former city attorney who was fired less than 24 hours after Avery in 2023.
Tina Tobin: The interim city manager who came after Scott Avery. She went on to fire several people in her rank even though her job is currently only temporary. Residents have since questioned her leadership.
Rob Richman: The former police chief who was hired in late 2023 but was shortly fired thereafter when the city manager's role changed hands. He was the fourth chief of Millersville since 2021.
Brandon Head: The longtime fire chief was fired by the interim city manager. He had been there since 2006. After his firing, 17 firefighters walked off the job.
