Knoxville News Sentinel
CLINTON, Tenn. — An Anderson County Sheriff’s Department corporal who investigated child sex crimes was himself investigated for alleged child rape, child abuse and sexual abuse, records show.
A child who now lives out of state leveled the accusations against Cpl. J.D. Powell, according to records.
During an investigation by the Clinton Police Department, the child exhibited “the hallmarks of someone telling the truth,” Anderson County District Attorney General Dave Clark wrote in a July 18 letter to Sheriff Paul White.
The News Sentinel obtained a copy of the letter through a public records request.
Neither White nor Chief Deputy Mark Lucas responded to requests for comment.
Powell, who has been on extended leave for much of this year, was uncooperative in the investigation and refused to submit to a polygraph test, according to the letter. The investigation is open but inactive, it states.
Clark called the allegations “credible” and “believable, but a mostly uncorroborated report of repeated sex offenses by Corporal Powell.”
But Clark said he didn’t think there was sufficient evidence to convince a jury and get a conviction.
As a result of the investigation, the prosecutor told the sheriff, any testimony by Powell as well as any child sex crime investigations he oversaw are now subject to being discredited by the defense at trial.
“We will be evaluating all of Corporal Powell’s cases and trying to decide what to do,” Clark wrote.
“Because of these factors, regrettably, I will not be able to use Corporal Powell’s testimony in any new cases.”
Powell was one of two officers involved in a February shoot-out that resulted in the deaths of an Indiana couple in Anderson County.
A Tennessee Bureau of Investigation probe cleared him and Deputy Jonathan “Adam” Bryant of any wrongdoing.
Clark in a summary of that investigation said the officers “had little choice but to employ the use of deadly force,” and he commended Powell, off duty at the time, for coming to help Bryant.
Powell has been on either paid administrative or medical leave for all but five weeks since the Feb. 29 shootout.
The latest medical leave went into effect July 9 and continues. Powell’s annual pay: $36,362.40.
Clark’s letter to White, which includes numerous redactions to keep the child’s identity confidential, stated the allegations surfaced in 2011.
Powell recorded one conversation about the allegations and gave them to his supervisor, thinking it would show he was being blackmailed, the letter states.
“Clinton P.D. (police department) has listened to the recording and does not believe it supports a conclusion that Powell was being blackmailed,” it continues.
Powell has worked for the Sheriff’s Department on three occasions since 2003, according to his personnel file.
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