Mars Hill police chief fired for requesting nude photos from captain's wife, document says

MARS HILL - Former Mars Hill Police Chief Jon Clark was fired in October after more than two years on the job in part for soliciting nude photos from the wife of a subordinate officer, as well mishandling of firearms in his office and misuse of a town-issued car, according to Clark's termination letter obtained by The News-Record & Sentinel.

In the letter dated Oct. 16, 2023, Town Manager Nathan Bennett listed five reasons for Clark's termination. The first was for engaging in inappropriate actions toward the wife of then-Capt. Chad Wilson, who was named Clark's replacement as chief, effective Jan. 1.

"Your conduct in attempting to pursue a romantic relationship with the wife of one of your officers is reprehensible," Bennett said in the letter.

"To actively solicit that relationship is unforgivable and put your entire Department and the Town of Mars Hill at risk. To have attempted that relationship showed great lack of judgement, and could have resulted in a situation where you would have been publicly embarrassed and embarrassed this Town."

On Sept. 20, Clark was suspended without pay following the town's emergency meeting in closed session.

The News-Record reached out to Clark for comment but did not receive a reply.

Bennett said Wilson approached the town manager after Clark reached out to Wilson's wife's on SnapChat requesting topless photos.

"There was never a picture shared, but he asked two different times," Bennett said.

Wilson told The News-Record the issue was a personal matter and he wished to not make a comment.

Bennett said the town hired U.S. Investigative Security Services, a third-party investigative services and security solutions company based in Huntersville, to perform an investigation after Wilson presented Bennett multiple pages of screenshots of the incident.

"The next day, I called Jon up here to suspend him pending an investigation, and I present him those things, and he admits to me, 'Yes, I sent those,'" Bennett said.

According to the town manager, the investigation revealed four more of Clark's breaches of conduct, including insubordination to Bennett after refusing to follow his orders to not contact Wilson.

At the time of this article's publication online on Jan. 8, Clark was employed by the Madison County Sheriff's Office, where he served as a school resource officer at Madison Early College High School.

Shortly after 5:30 p.m. on Jan. 8, the day this article first published online, Madison County Schools Superintendent Will Hoffman said Clark was no longer serving as an SRO at the school system.

Hoffman said he wished to make the distinction that Clark was and is not employed by the school system.

"We appreciate the relationship we have with the Madison County Sheriff’s Department, and we are fortunate to have SROs in each of our schools," Hoffman told The News-Record in an email.

"Our SROs are employees of the Sheriff’s Department or their respective law enforcement agencies, SROs are not school system employees. It is up to the Sheriff to hire and assign school resource officers at our schools, as well as conduct any background check prior to hiring."

Calls to Madison County Sheriff Buddy Harwood went unanswered, and it is unclear whether Clark is still employed by Madison County Sheriff's Office.

Requesting nude photos, disobeying orders

"He said, 'It's not what it looks like,' and said, 'Well, I need to go apologize to Chad,'" Bennett said. "I said, 'You're to have no contact with Chad Wilson or his wife until further notice.' He left me, calls Chad and met him down on College Street, right there in front of the bookstore."

As part of the investigation, security camera footage from the university bookstore revealed Clark had met with Wilson on the day in question.

"He left me and immediately went to Chad after I told him not to. Immediately. Not a few minutes," Bennett said. "He left here and went and did exactly what I told him not to. It could have been terrible. There's no telling what kind of situation could've happened. But Chad tells me that he agreed to meet there because he didn't know what was going to happen, but he knew it's a public space and he knew the bookstore had cameras."

Additionally, when the investigator asked Clark whether he met with Wilson, he repeatedly denied that he disobeyed Bennett's order, which constituted the third reason for his termination, Bennett said.

"Your blatantly telling untruths to me and the investigator employed by the Town leaves me with no choice but to terminate you," Bennett said in the letter.

Mishandling of firearms, misuse of police vehicle

The fourth and fifth reasons constituting Clark's termination outlined in the letter were related to Clark's misuse of town-issued equipment, including his firearm and vehicle.

"I knew we had to get all of his equipment, so I had him come in, we go down there to handle the firearms," Bennett said. "There were firearms that were laying unsecured in the office. Most of them were not loaded, but there was ammo in the office."

Additionally, according to Bennett, Clark could not produce his own town-issued firearm, as he couldn't find it.

"He didn't have it. It took him two days to find it and bring it to me," Bennett said. "It was at home."

According to Bennett, prior to his suspension and subsequent termination, Clark was cross-sworn between Madison County Sheriff's Office and Mars Hill Police Departments.

"We issued him a firearm, and the county issued him a firearm, because he was working with both agencies," Bennett said. "He preferred the county weapon, I learned at this time, so he was carrying the county's gun, but he didn't know where he left his town gun.

"Had he had ever had to discharge that weapon in service of the town, and he's shooting somebody with the county's gun, I don't know what kind of liability we would've been exposed to there."

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Clark was terminated Oct. 16, Bennett said.

Bennett said the investigation also revealed Clark was misusing his town-provided vehicle.

"The Town did provide you with a vehicle. That vehicle was not provided you though for your personal enjoyment or convenience," Bennett said in the letter.

"When you were not on duty, you should have not been operating your Department-provided vehicle."

Clark had served with MHPD since 2016, and after roughly a year, Clark worked his way up to captain under former Police Chief Michael Garrison prior to his promotion to chief in 2021.

Bennett said he hoped the town and Clark could have reached a more amicable resolution.

"I have no ill will with him," he said. "I hope he moves on, and we all live happily ever after. But he left the department in a lot of turmoil, because I couldn't tell them, and still haven't told them, what all he had done with this whole thing with Chad's wife."

Johnny Casey has covered Madison County for The Citizen Times and The News-Record & Sentinel for nearly three years. He earned a first-place award in beat reporting in the 2023 North Carolina Press Association awards. He can be reached at 828-210-6074 or jcasey@citizentimes.com.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Fired Mars Hill police chief solicited nude photos from captain's wife