A Clark County lieutenant is on indefinite leave after he posted on Facebook that he wouldn't help Democrats — and it's not the first time he's been reprimanded for what he’s said on social media.
Lt. John Rodgers has been with the Clark County Sheriff’s Office for over 20 years. He works in the uniform patrol division in a largely administrative capacity, according to the sheriff’s office.
Last month, Rodgers made a series of political posts on Facebook, including saying he would require people to prove who they voted for if they asked him for help.
“If you support the Democratic party I will not help you,” one post said. Another post read, “Kamala Harris represents Satan.”
The following morning, Rodgers deleted the posts and disabled his Facebook account, according to public records obtained by WYSO.
The sheriff’s office learned of his posts from a resident and the county commission office.
Clark County Chief Deputy Mike Young denounced the posts.
“We serve a variety of people with a variety of beliefs and genders, backgrounds, political views,” Young said.
“There are a lot of people that were calling for his termination, and they saw anything less than the termination as supporting his comments,” Young said. “And that's disappointing that the perception is that we support his conduct because that's definitely not the case.”
Rodgers will be required to do implicit bias training, Young said, and his work plan will be modified once he returns to duty.
A WYSO review of his personnel file found Rodgers has been in trouble before for what he’s said on Facebook. In 2017, he received a written reprimand for referring to his employment as "embarrassed and ashamed at Clark County,” and as a “sex therapist at Wal-Mart.”
Contractually the previous incidents cannot be used for future discipline given the timeframe, Young said.
“I mean, I'm concerned with that previous one," he said. "But now, it really doesn't have a lot of bearing into how we're handling the situation at all.”
Rodgers couldn’t be reached for comment. But in a letter the Clark County sheriff’s office shared with WYSO, he attributes the incident to a sleeping aid prescription. He says in the letter he will cease using the medication moving forward.
“I know it will be difficult for the public to trust me, but I will do everything in my power to start mending that trust,” Rodgers says in the letter. “I apologize from the bottom of my heart and want to ensure (to) our community I will always serve to the best of my ability and strive to do better.”
