A sheriff's lieutenant in Clark County, Ohio, claimed he wasn't fully aware of what he was doing when he wrote a series of Facebook posts declaring he would not protect them if they voted Democratic in the 2024 election.
Uniform Patrol Lieutenant John Rodgers, who has worked for the Clark County Sheriff's office since 2002, wrote a series of Facebook posts explaining he would need proof a person didn't vote for Democratic candidate Kamala Harris before offering them aid or assistance.
In one of the posts included in his personnel file, Rodgers wrote:
“At the end of the day I will require proof of who you voted for if you ask me for help. Weapons and ammo are not cheap.”
Another post dated October 20 said:
“I am sorry. If you support the Democrat party I will not help you.”
“The problem is that I know which of you supports the Democratic Party and I will not help you survive the end of days,” Rodgers wrote in a different post.
Some of his posts were shared more than 250,000 times.
The Sheriff's Office in question is located in Springfield, the same city referred to by Republican candidate Donald Trump, who falsely suggested that migrants there were eating people's pets.
Trump made his unsupported claim while griping about undocumented immigrants during his only presidential debate with Harris.
His hyperbolic statements about immigrants "eating the dogs," despite a lack of local news reports on such incidents have caused fear among Springfield's Haitian community after facing a series of bomb threats.
In light of his Facebook post controversy, Rodgers blamed his behavior on prescribed sleep medication and alleged that side effects include writing “out of character” texts and messages and other forms of communication, according to Springfield News-Sun.
An investigative file obtained by WHIO-TV 7, an inter-office communication with supervisors showed that Rodgers wrote:
“I do not remember writing these posts or deleting any posts.”
“I was taken aback when I read those messages and do not have those, nor have I ever had feelings toward anyone like what was depicted in the posts."
“I have served this community, this County and the State for the last 31 years serving as a firefighter, campus policy officer and a Sheriff’s Deputy."
"There is no other job that [I] would want to be doing than the one that [I] am currently at.”
He apologized for causing concern and said that he deactivated his Facebook account and stopped taking the medication.
Rodgers also said he reached out to the Clark County Commission, community partners, and the NAACP to have “face-to-face conversations” about his indiscretion and to “take ownership of the posts” and apologize.
He continued:
“I know I cannot apologize enough, and my apologies may seem empty, but I will continue to apologize as long as necessary."
Rodgers added:
“I know in this day and age society has a perception of law enforcement that may not always be positive, and I have now added to that perception."
"I accept responsibility for the messages, and I deeply regret making them.”
A representative for the sheriff’s office deemed Rodgers' posts "highly inappropriate," adding that the comments expressed don't reflect the office’s values and mission.
Chief Deputy Mike Young said in a statement:
“The community has a right to be upset over the actions of Lt. Rodgers and he, as well as the Sheriff’s Office in general, will have to work even harder to replenish the trust of members of our community."
The department apologized for the incident and said they gave Rodgers a written reprimand in violation of their social media policy.
Rodgers remains on active duty.
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