A Tennessee cop fired for having multiple sexcapades with other officers while on duty has claimed her superiors “sexually groomed” her.
Maegan Hall, 26, and four other officers were fired from the City of La Vergne Police Department in January after an investigation revealed they had sexual relations while on the job and then lied about it, the New York Post reported. Hall, the only female cop involved in the scandal, filed a federal civil rights lawsuit Monday accusing her former coworkers of taking advantage of the all-male work environment to exploit her. (RELATED: Department Fires Five Police Officers After Mayor Reports Rumors Of Sexual Acts, Including ‘Girls Gone Wild’-Type Party)
“Maegan Hall was a vulnerable and optimistic 24-year-old woman who had applied to be a police officer in the City of La Vergne,” the lawsuit reads. “Where Ms. Hall sought role models at her new job, she instead found predators.”
The lawsuit names Hall’s fired coworkers, Police Chief Burrel “Chip” Davis and Sergeants Lewis Powell and Henry “Ty” McGowan, as well as the City of La Vergne, as defendants.
According to the lawsuit, Hall was hired by the force in Feb. 2021, but did not engage in sexual acts with any coworkers until early last year after Sergeant Lewis Powell persisted in soliciting her for sexual favors.
“Sgt. Powell learned that Ms. Hall was going through the process of buying a home with her husband and that this process was extremely taxing on their relationship,” the lawsuit states. “Sgt. Powell positioned himself as a reliable source of companionship and advice regarding Ms. Hall’s career and her marriage.”
“Sgt. Powell persisted in requests for sex despite Ms. Hall’s resistance,” the lawsuit adds. “Eventually, Ms. Hall gave in to Sgt. Powell’s requests for sexual favors.”
Hall claims in the lawsuit that the romp with Powell led to other “abusive sexual relationships” with Officers Larry Holladay, Patrick Magliocco, Ty McGowan, Juan Lugo-Perez, Gavin Schoeberl and Detective Seneca Shields. The lawsuit also accuses Police Chief Chip Davis, who was fired earlier this month, of encouraging McGowan to share pornographic images of Hall with other members of the department without her consent.
An initial investigation was launched after the mayor of La Vergne received a tip that Hall was sleeping with several other officers, the New York Post earlier reported. While married, Hall allegedly engaged in sending nude photos, taking her top off at a “Girls Gone Wild” hot tub party, and performing oral sex on two officers.
Hall admitted to investigators that she performed sexual acts while on police property and had a threesome with Magliocco and his wife. The investigation led to the firings of Hall, Powell, Lugo-Perez, McGowan and Shields, while Magliocco and Holladay were suspended.
The lawsuit adds that Hall nearly committed suicide over feeling “trapped in the role assigned to her” by her superiors at the department but that “the City blamed her for everything.”
Hall is seeking an award in punitive damages against the City and her former superiors in an amount to be determined by the jury.