Atlanta police Chief Richard Pennington announced Wednesday that he is disciplining three employees, including the internal affairs commander, for their roles in covering up alleged sex crimes involving one of their spouses.

Pennington said the employees could be fired, and that the highest-ranking officer, Maj. Cerelyn "C.J." Davis, has been demoted to lieutenant and removed as commander of the Office of Professional Standards.

The other employees are Sgt. Tonya Crane and senior crime analyst Randolph Ory. Crane is married to Terrill Marion "T.C." Crane, who was indicted in November 2007 on federal charges of producing child pornography involving him and young girls. Ory is a close friend and former roommate of T.C. Crane.

"These allegations were disturbing in nature and a serious concern for the Atlanta Police Department," Pennington said. "Any behavior associated with these alleged acts will not be tolerated, and I will act swiftly to enforce the law, even amongst our own."

Crane has been on administrative leave since her husband's arrest. The two others are still working; Davis has been assigned to the Communications Section, which includes 911 dispatchers. Their discipline could come in the next 10 days, after an administrative hearing, Pennington said.

Pennington said he asked the city's Law Department to investigate how some of his officers mishandled the investigation into T.C. Crane. The Office of Professional Standards normally would handle allegations involving police officers, but its commander, Davis, has been implicated.

The probe began in January, and city investigators interviewed more than 30 current and former police officers.

Davis, while a lieutenant in charge of the Intelligence Unit, ordered two detectives in 2004 to stop looking into Crane's alleged crimes, according to documents in the investigative report.

One of the detectives, Bobby Render, told city investigators that, when he asked Davis how to proceed with the Crane case, she told him to "cut it" and "made a hand gesture in front of her neck," documents show.

Davis denied doing so, but failed a lie-detector test, which she tried to foil by clenching her teeth — an attempt to alter her measurable vocal output, according to police records.

This isn't Davis' first disciplinary issue. A 22-year veteran, she and dozens of other officers got in trouble for their roles escorting celebrities through Atlanta traffic during the 2003 NBA All-Star Game, when they were supposed to be on regular duty.

Pennington promoted her to major in February 2006.

Crane will be disciplined for destroying several photographs of her husband when she was tipped off to the investigation by an unidentified Atlanta police employee in 2003, according to documents.

A lie detector exam indicated that she was lying when she claimed to not have taken photographs of her husband having sex with juvenile girls, the police reports show. In some of the photos, girls were holding an Atlanta police-issued handgun and what appeared to be an Atlanta police hat.

Crane also had to take a drug test because the FBI found a small bag of marijuana in a vase in the couple's home. She passed.

Ory, a 23-year civilian employee, has been friends with T.C. Crane since 1985. He admitted to police that he allowed Crane to bring a girl to his home, where Crane had sex with her, and once went on a road trip during which Crane had sex with two girls. When Crane was arrested, Ory turned over a box of sexually explicit photos allegedly of Crane and young girls.