Sardis officer resigns after photo surfaces





 

 

A Sardis police officer has resigned following the circulation of a nude photograph.

Former officer Dwayne Burke turned in his letter of resignation Friday amidst a Georgia Bureau of Investigation probe into what appears to be a frontal nude photograph Burke took of himself in the mirror of the police headquarters restroom.

In the letter, Burke indicated he was leaving to take a higher paying job.

Gary Nicholson, special agent in charge of the Thomson GBI office, says the photograph was actually taken several months ago but was recently brought to his agency’s attention following the massforwarding of it via cell phones.

Before his resignation, Officer Burke claimed he had never taken a nude photo of himself and that someone altered an existing image of him that was taken from the chest-up.

Agent Nicholson said he could not release information about where the photo was taken and whether it had been altered.

GBI agents will soon submit their findings to District Attorney Ashley Wright who will determine if Burke should be charged.

“If the photograph was passed between two consenting adults, I don’t know that any laws have been violated,” Agent Nicholson said, noting that policy violations are a different matter altogether.

Agents say Burke appears to have originally sent the photograph to an adult woman, and it was later forwarded to others by a third party without his or her consent.

In the meantime, the GBI continues to investigate a May 2009 incident in which Burke is accused of donning a ski mask and knocking out the windows of a Sardis home.

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