Internal Affairs: Pines Cop Alleges He Got Ax Over Cheating Wife
Former sergeant claims wife cheated with superior, circulated nude pics of her then had him fired
Updated 11:00 AM EST, Fri, Nov 6, 2009
It sounds like an episode of "Hill Street Blues": cop has torrid affair with fellow cop's wife, fellow cop finds out about it and gets fired for complaining, then other cop circulates nude photos of the wife.
This is no TV show, but rather the real-life drama playing out at the Pembroke Pines Police Department, according to the Sun-Sentinel.
The shocking allegations are laid out in a lawsuit in which former Sgt. Charles Laughlin accuses his supervisor, Capt. Daniel Rakofsky, carried on an affair behind his back beginning in 2005.
The suit claims that when Laughlin started complaining about the affair, Rakofsky got him fired through a unwarranted internal affairs investigation.
Then, to make matters worse, Laughlin claims Rakofsky started e-mailing nude pics of the wife to other cops.
"The Pembroke Pines Police Department is kind of like Peyton Place," Walter "Skip" Campbell, Laughlin's attorney, told the Sentinel. "You have an officer who went 17 years without a blemish on his record, and all of a sudden..."
Laughlin was fired in April after 18 years with the department. He claims the affair began in January 2005, but he didn't learn about it until February 2006.
He said he didn't make a stink about it because he didn't want to derail a promotion he was aiming for, but he began complaining after he was promoted. He said the internal affairs investigation started shortly thereafter.
The lawyer for Rakofsky and the city said Laughlin was justly fired, and that his allegations had nothing to do with it.
Laughlin is asking to be reinstated and wants $15,000 in damages.
First Published: Nov 6, 2009 10:44 AM EST
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