ARAPAHOE COUNTY, Colo. (KDVR) — A former Arapahoe County sheriff’s deputy has retired with a $30,000 separation agreement rather than face an internal affairs investigation for her OnlyFans page.
Melissa Williams still operates her OnlyFans page, which allows online subscribers to pay $10 a month to see her posing nude or partially nude and engaging in sex acts with her husband. She spent 28 years in law enforcement, including her last 11 years with the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office, where she was recently assigned to the detention center as a lieutenant.
“I was a really good cop. I was a really good cop and I was a really good leader,” Williams, 48, said in an interview with the Problem Solvers.
Williams said she never posed in her uniform or identified herself as a deputy and said it never occurred to her that the sheriff’s department might find her page inappropriate.
“I never did it because I did it outside my working hours and it was never criminal,” she said.
OnlyFans page leads to complaint
Williams said there were no issues with her OnlyFans page for the first 18 months. But eventually co-workers found out, and a female officer from a nearby police department filed a complaint with the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office. In the August 5 complaint, she said she felt “the lieutenant’s poor judgment was a discredit to the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office.”
“I was like, it doesn’t even affect the person who reported it. It doesn’t affect my job, it doesn’t affect my employees, it doesn’t affect the community,” Williams said.
But the sheriff’s office took the complaint seriously. In a memo obtained by Problem Solvers, an internal affairs inspector wrote, “The website contained photos of Lt. Williams posing for photos clearly showing his face and genitals, one or more of the photos appears to have been taken in a very public place. site.”
“I think some people considered what I was doing for fun to be a sex worker, but I’m the same as someone else’s neighbor, friend, mother, daughter. I’m still the same person I was for the 18 months the page existed and no one knew about it,” Williams said.
Colorado law protects employees’ personal time
“There are a lot of legal things that someone might disagree with,” said Don Mayer, a professor of business ethics and legal studies at the University of Denver.
He said Colorado has a law called the “legal off-duty activities law” which protects employees from being fired for what they do in their free time as long as they don’t break any laws.
“I don’t think there’s a strong argument that what she did was illegal,” Mayer said.
But a spokesperson for Sheriff Tyler Brown said the agency believes Williams should have sought clearance for a side job, just like any deputy who works security at a bar or a football game is required to do so. To do.
Williams said he did not come to seek permission for a side job.
“No, because it really doesn’t generate employment income and there are a lot of people in the metro area who have what could be considered a side job, but it’s not something that’s claimed or reported. “, she said.
Williams declined to say how much money her OnlyFans page made for her, but admitted she has over 300 followers. She said she decided to accept a $30,000 separation and release agreement in November to retire from the sheriff’s department, in part because she was convinced the department was going to fire her if she didn’t. was not doing.
“I didn’t leave out of shame and I didn’t leave out of embarrassment for the OnlyFans page. I left because it was the right thing for me and my family, and honestly, the OnlyFans play was just that. part,” Williams said.
Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office Responds
Sheriff Brown declined to discuss the Williams case, but his spokesperson told FOX31 in an email:
“With respect to secondary employment, our policy does not explicitly mention OnlyFans or similar web hosting platforms; however, the policy covers secondary employment which may adversely affect a member’s performance of their regular duties or which may bring discredit to the sheriff’s office. In light of the nature of the OnlyFans platforms, the Sheriff has interpreted our policy to mean that anyone with such a website or page as a second job should notify the Sheriff and obtain their approval before pursuing such an endeavor. .
Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office
In a separate statement Monday, the sheriff’s office said:
The Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office has launched an investigation into Ms Williams after receiving a complaint from a member of the public alleging that Ms Williams was posing on a pornographic website and in doing so brought disrepute to the sheriff’s office . Before this investigation was completed, Ms Williams sought to negotiate a severance package and elected to resign.
Ms. Williams was not fired and was not forced out of the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office. Ms Williams’ allegations appear to be nothing more than an effort to fabricate a ‘newsworthy’ story to drive traffic to her website.
Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office
