Searcy's police chief resigned Tuesday after a federal agency searched his home and served a warrant to the mayor to confiscate unidentified city property.
More than a dozen agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, as well as task force officers from the North Little Rock and Little Rock police departments and the Arkansas State Police, converged on the home of Searcy Police Chief Jeremy Clark about 8 a.m. Tuesday, ATF Special Agent Kevin Moran said.
By Tuesday afternoon, Searcy Mayor David Morris announced at a news conference that Clark had submitted his immediate resignation. The mayor appointed 27-year Searcy Police Department veteran Eric Webb as the interim police chief.
The handwritten letter from Clark said he was "reluctantly" resigning "due to events out of our control and the possible embarrassment that could be caused to the City of Searcy's Police Department."
"Thank you for giving me the opportunity [to] have my dream job for as long as I had and I apologize to you, the council, the citizens and especially every police officer that's been affected by this fruitless investigation into my life," Clark wrote.
Clark was being "cooperative" in the investigation, Moran said Tuesday.
Moran added that the agency could not release the reason for the search warrant nor what was recovered. He said only that the investigation has been ongoing "several months."
Clark did not respond by Tuesday evening to repeated messages left on his cellphone by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Clark told television reporters that he is being investigated for arson but did not elaborate.
The investigators spent several hours at the home. Moran did not confirm Clark's home address, but Arkansas Voter Registration records show his address as 22 Cattail Road in Searcy. White County real estate records show that Clark owns two homes at 8 Whippoorwill Drive and 22 Whippoorwill Drive.
"What has been recovered today will dictate where they go in any investigation," Moran said when asked whether additional people or locations would be subject to warrants. "Hopefully, we will be able to provide more information tomorrow. The investigation is still ongoing."
The mayor is not under investigation and was served with the warrant only in his role as custodian of city property.
Morris said at the Tuesday afternoon news conference that he could not give any more information about the investigation but noted the city "has and will continue to cooperate with law enforcement officials."
"As the mayor of this fine city and as a citizen of this city, I continue to have the utmost respect and the utmost confidence in the fine officers of the Searcy Police Department," Morris said, before quickly walking away from the podium.
Clark, 35, began his law-enforcement career when he was 19 as a deputy in the detention center of the White County sheriff's office. He then worked as a patrol officer for the Stuttgart Police Department before joining Searcy's police force in 2001.
He left the Searcy Police Department in 2006, when White County Sheriff Ricky Shourd appointed Clark as his chief deputy. He served in that position for six years, until Morris appointed him police chief in Searcy in 2013.
During his years with the city, Clark served as a patrolman and detective before being named chief.
Clark also received special training from the ATF that included search and seizures, according to his biography on the Searcy Police Department's website.
In the past year, Clark has been involved in two high-profile events. He rallied the community and led the investigation into the still-unsolved disappearance of Searcy 2-year-old Malik Drummond, who was last seen Nov. 24 at his home.
Clark made headlines in February 2014 when he refused to remove a cross from Police Department property when asked to do so by the Wisconsin-based organization the Freedom from Religion Foundation.
Shourd said Tuesday that Clark did "a good job" as chief deputy for his office.
"There were never any issues," Shourd said. "I don't know what's going on. I'm in the dark. I was surprised. He's somebody I've known and who has worked for us for six years. I knew him even before he worked at the sheriff's office. He's a good guy as far as I know."
Information for this article was contributed by Debra Hale-Shelton of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
State Desk on 03/04/2015