Chris Conley conley@commercialappeal.com
Copyright 2005 The Commercial Appeal, Inc.
Memphis Police officers James Fetter and Adam Gagnier are accused of teaming up to steal $2,800 from a motorist, plant drugs on Fetter’s estranged wife, and stage a phony shooting of Fetter with a stolen drop gun.
The two West Precinct officers were charged with federal civil rights violations and mail fraud in criminal complaints unsealed late Monday.
Fetter was ordered held without bond by a federal magistrate. Gagnier was arrested Monday and has yet to appear in court.
Gagnier has resigned from the department, and Fetter has been on suspension since internal affairs began investigating his claim that he was shot by a suspect.
Memphis Police detectives began investigating both men, department spokesman Sgt. Vince Higgins said, leading to an internal affairs investigation that eventually became a federal investigation.
Both men are charged with violating the civil rights of two people they stopped on Jackson near Danny Thomas Feb. 25, 2004, and grabbing $2,800. They never turned the money in as evidence and denied taking it when questioned by Memphis Police internal affairs officers.
Gagnier later admitted they divided the money, according to the charges. Gagnier said he used the money to go to Disney World; Fetter, he said, bought a refrigerator.
The two men are also charged with violating the civil rights of Fetter’s estranged wife, Leah Fetter, and her employee by planting a large amount of cocaine on them after an unwarranted traffic stop.
Gagnier told federal prosecutors that when he made the stop, Fetter was nearby instructing him via cell phone on what to do.
Cell phone records between the two men were subpoenaed by federal agents, according to the charges.
Fetter used the arrest to try to get custody of the couple’s two children, according to the charges.
The couple had a violent history. Leah Fetter testified she filed for divorce after Fetter held a gun to his head, then turned it on her, threatening to kill her.
When she ran up the stairs of their home to a bedroom, she told investigators, he fired a shot through the ceiling into the bedroom where she and the children were.
Fetter, who claimed last February that he had been shot in the arm by a suspect in a fight, was also charged along with Gagnier with mail fraud for fraudulently collecting medical benefits and injury pay.
Fetter, who was slightly injured in the bicep, told other officers that a black man with splotchy hands and gold teeth had assaulted him in Overton Park. No suspect was ever arrested.
Fetter staged the shooting to gain sympathy from his wife so she would allow him visitation with their children, Gagnier told prosecutors.
- Chris Conley: 529-2595
December 7, 2005