Louisville Metro Police chief previously suspended for lying, Atlanta records show

Louisville Metro Police Chief Jacquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel, who recently faced criticism locally over false testimony at a civil trial, was previously suspended by the Atlanta Police Department for lying, documents obtained by The Courier Journal show.

According to disciplinary records obtained under Georgia’s open records law, Gwinn-Villaroel was suspended for 20 days in 2003 for untruthfulness and for attempting to access investigative files she was not authorized to view.

The department determined she lied about attempting to illicitly obtain files from a narcotics trafficking investigation targeting a relative.

During the misconduct probe two decades ago, Gwinn-Villaroel repeatedly denied searching a colleague’s desk and removing a file until she was shown a covertly recorded video of her doing so, the records show.

“This is a very serious work rule violation due to the fact that the matter involved the accessing of arrest and case information of a family member by Investigator Gwinn-Villaroel,” Atlanta Police Major J.W. Mathis III wrote in an internal memorandum to Marion Brooks, the department's deputy chief at the time.

Gwinn-Villaroel was named LMPD’s permanent chief in July following a secretive search by Mayor Craig Greenberg's administration, which refused to identify finalists for the job.

She followed former LMPD Chief Erika Shields to Louisville from Atlanta, where both women climbed the ranks together, in 2021. After Shields resigned in January 2022, saying she was forced out by Greenberg, Gwinn-Villaroel was made interim chief.

In a statement to The Courier Journal Wednesday afternoon, Greenberg said Gwinn-Villaroel was still the right person to lead LMPD.

"Chief Gwinn-Villaroel was, and is, the best person to lead LMPD and she is committed to creating a safer Louisville for every family who calls our great city home — I believe this, seeing her work firsthand and knowing she underwent a comprehensive national search, including a review by a local interview committee and a national search firm. The incident is from very early in her stellar, now 26-year career, and it does not change my belief that Chief Gwinn-Villaroel is the right person to lead LMPD forward.

"While the policy violation did not come up during the interview process, it would not have changed the decision that Jacquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel was the best candidate for the position."

In her own statement to The Courier Journal, Gwinn-Villaroel said: "I am proud of my career, which spans over 25 years and includes experiences that I have learned and grown from and ultimately helped me earn the confidence of leaders and communities I have served. Now, I am focused on the future — not the past — serving as Chief alongside the brave officers of LMPD to create a safer Louisville for every family who calls this city home."

The Courier Journal filed an open records request with the Atlanta Police Department for Gwinn-Villaroel's personnel file in June, when she was being considered for Louisville's permanent police chief job. Atlanta Police provided the file in November.

A traffic stop, a drug raid and a relative arrested

On Jan. 14, 2003, an Atlanta Police officer pulled over an SUV driving erratically on Marietta Street, just northwest of the city’s downtown.

Officers removed the driver, John Farmer, from the car at gunpoint and charged him with a slew of traffic, firearms and drug charges after officers said they found a pistol, 10 ounces of cocaine and some marijuana upon searching the vehicle.

APD Investigator LeAnne Browning had already been investigating Farmer for allegedly dealing drugs out of the auto repair shop he owned. She had put the business under surveillance after a confidential informant told police it was a front, with little work done on cars and the real money coming in from selling crack cocaine in $5 and $10 baggies.

Farmer’s arrest was an opening for Browning to get a warrant.

The day after the traffic stop, APD’s Gangs and Guns Unit raided Classic Auto Service on Echo Street, finding a kilo of cocaine and six more guns. In an incident report, Browning wrote the repair shop’s tools had cobwebs and dust on them — that they looked like they had not been used in a long time.

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After Farmer was arrested, APD officers discovered he was married to the sister of APD officer David Villaroel, Gwinn-Villaroel’s husband.

Unauthorized access to files

The day after the raid on the body shop, APD detectives saw Gwinn-Villaroel searching Browning’s desk, which was in the same office as hers.

“Investigator [Gwinn-Villaroel] was methodically going through each drawer in the cubical area, desk and file cabinets,” Sgt. James Whitmire told internal affairs investigators.

Whitmire said he watched Gwinn-Villaroel before alerting another sergeant, Michael Harty.

Harty told internal affairs he confronted Gwinn-Villaroel about her search, and she told him she was looking for a report that Browning had left for her.

But Browning told other detectives and internal affairs investigators she did not leave a report for Gwinn-Villaroel.

Following the episode, detectives became suspicious of Gwinn-Villaroel and installed a hidden camera facing Browning’s desk.

Nearly two weeks after Gwinn-Villaroel was seen searching the cubicle, Whitmire and Browning set up a sting targeting Gwinn-Villaroel, creating a “dummy file” and placing it in a drawer of Browning’s desk.

Within earshot of Gwinn-Villaroel, Browning then made a fake phone call referencing the case.

“I mentioned the financial aspect of the Farmer case and the fact that I might obtain a search warrant for Mr. Farmer’s residence,” she said in a sworn statement. “I also advised that I would leave a file in my middle desk drawer with the address of 698 Echo Street written on it, it would be the first file sitting on top. I advised that since I was leaving for the day I would leave it there to pick up later on that evening.”

About two minutes after Browning left the office, Gwinn-Villaroel was seen on camera entering Browning’s cubicle, the internal affairs investigation said. Investigators said she took the file from Browning’s drawer and left the area for seven minutes before returning the folder.

Gwinn-Villaroel denied allegations until being presented with video

When questioned by APD investigators, Gwinn-Villaroel denied ever searching Browning’s desk or taking a file.

Answering investigators' questions on Feb. 27, 2003, Gwinn-Villaroel repeated the story she told colleagues on Jan. 16 about looking for a report Browning had left for her.

She was also asked whether she got a file from Browning’s desk at any time after Jan. 16.

“No,” she responded.

In a later March 4 interview, investigators said Gwinn-Villaroel again denied taking a file from Browning’s desk, but then admitted to it after being shown a video of her actions.

However, when asked what was in the file she took, Gwinn-Villaroel allegedly told an investigator it was information about 911 calls for service, whereas it was actually a criminal history and an incident report.

That statement contributed to an additional misconduct charge for truthfulness.

“Investigator J. Gwinn-Villaroel did not tell the truth until compelled to do so after watching a video recording of her actions that were recorded on January 28, 2003,” wrote APD Lt. M. Denson, Sr. in the internal affairs findings. “These actions bring discredit to Investigator J. Gwinn-Villaroel and the Department. This is based on her untruthfulness and on her obtaining investigative information that involved a family member without the permission or knowledge of the case investigator or supervisor of the Gangs and Gun Unit.”

After her 20-day suspension in 2003, Gwinn-Villaroel continued to advance in the Atlanta Police Department, eventually reaching the rank of major and serving as the director of Atlanta's Police Training Academy.

Latest issue with truthfulness

Gwinn-Villaroel most recently came under fire for truthfulness during a civil trial over a July 2021 LMPD chase that left a man dead after a fleeing suspect crashed into him.

Testifying in that trial in November, Gwinn-Villaroel said she was not wearing a body camera when she showed up at the scene of the fatal crash. At the time of the incident, she was LMPD's deputy chief.

“We don’t have any footage from your body cam because you didn’t have it ‘on me or with me’ is what you said earlier today, and on Friday you said you didn’t have it on you either,” attorney Nick Naiser said. “Because if you would have had it on you, you would have turned it on, right? Because you were out there, you were interacting with the public.”

“I would have activated it, if I had it on,” Gwinn-Villaroel responded.

Naiser then showed a still image from another officer’s body camera, showing Gwinn-Villaroel at the scene wearing a body camera.

The event led to a whirlwind of criticism, with some going as far as calling for Gwinn-Villaroel to be placed on the “Brady List” — the lists prosecutors and police sometimes keep of officers who have credibility issues and whose testimony may not be trusted in court.

Mayor Greenberg was dismissive of the criticisms, accusing the attorney of using a “gotcha question” driven by an ambition to get more money out of the case and claiming Gwinn-Villaroel tripped on her words.

“After providing over six hours of testimony on an incident she responded to two and a half years ago as then-Deputy Chief, Chief Gwinn-Villaroel misspoke in response to a gotcha question from a lawyer trying to inflame the jury and drive up their own payday,” the mayor said in a statement in November.

Reach reporter Josh Wood at jwood@courier-journal.com or on Twitter at @JWoodJourno

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: LMPD chief Jacquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel previously suspended for lying