Acting police chief acknowledges affair with a subordinate at his former job
The man chosen to lead Lawrenceville’s police department after a sexual harassment scandal led to the police chief’s resignation admitted Thursday to having his own history of sexual indiscretions on the job.
With his wife standing behind him, Maj. Myron Walker told reporters at police headquarters that seven years ago, he devastated her by having an extramarital affair. According to internal affairs and disciplinary records obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Walker had a relationship with a subordinate when he worked for the Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Office.
The affair went on for years until late 2014, when Walker and the woman got into a scuffle at her home and police were summoned, records show. An internal investigation found they had sex in a sheriff’s vehicle and in county administrative offices.
The sheriff’s office had demoted Walker from sergeant to corporal in 2015. He joined the Lawrenceville Police Department three years later as its second in command.
“My humiliation paled in comparison to the pain I’ve caused my wife, this same wife who stands with me today,” he said.
Our Reporting
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution started reporting in early January on sexual harassment allegations at the Lawrenceville Police Department. The AJC’s reporters requested records from the city, which initially denied the existence of an internal investigation report that was completed on Dec. 28. The AJC broke the story of the sexual harassment scandal on Jan. 26 and followed up with a report that showed how the city manager and mayor wrote reference letters for a police captain while he was under investigation for harassment. Anyone with information about harassment in Lawrenceville or any other metro Atlanta-area police department or city government can contact AJC reporters Asia Simone Burns (Asia.Burns@ajc.com or (404) 873-9022 or Johnny Edwards (johnny.edwards@ajc.com) or 404-526-7209.
For several days this week, Walker and other city officials had urged the AJC to not report this information. Walker called Thursday’s press conference as the AJC was preparing to publish a story on Lawrenceville’s sexual harassment problems that included the acting chief’s disciplinary history in Gwinnett. That story is available at AJC.com and will publish in Sunday’s print editions.
The major is leading a police department that just experienced a shakeup in its top ranks after an internal investigation found that Chief Tim Wallis and the former head of criminal investigations, Capt. Ryan Morgan, had sexually harassed a female captain. The report revealed a culture of sexism that dated back years.
Audio: The full press conference with Myron Walker on Feb. 10, 2022
About the Authors
Johnny Edwards, a member of the AJC’s investigative team, covers state and local government and private sector regulation.
Asia Simone Burns is a watchdog reporter for the AJC. Burns was formerly an intern in AJC’s newsroom and now writes about crime. She is a graduate of Samford University and has previously reported for NPR and WABE, Atlanta’s NPR member station.
Jennifer Peebles is a newsroom data specialist at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, helping reporters find and tell stories with government data (and sometimes documents, too).
