Megan Photo. Photo courtesy of ABC News.
Summary: The mayor of Nashville, Tennessee resigned on Tuesday due to her misconduct as a result of her affair.
One month ago, Nashville mayor Megan Barry admitted to having an extramarital affair with a former bodyguard; and on Tuesday, she resigned from office after admitting she had stolen taxpayer money in order to hide their relationship.
According to Fox News, Barry had pled guilty to felony criminal theft of property, which was a result of her misappropriating city funds in order to hide her affair with police officer, Robert Forrest.
“While my time as your mayor concludes today, my unwavering love and sincere affection for this wonderful city and its great people shall never come to an end,” Barry said. “God bless this wonderful city. I love you Nashville.”
Barry, a Democrat, pled guilty to the theft of property over $10,000 and was sentenced to three years of unsupervised probation. She was ordered to reimburse the city $11,000, and once the terms have been met, her charges can be dismissed and expunged.
Barry’s lover, former Metropolitan Nashville Police Department Sergeant Robert Forrest, also pled guilty to theft on Tuesday, and he has agreed to pay $45,000 in restitution to the city.
The pleas came almost one month after the two parties admitted to the affair. Barry and Forrest are both married to other people, but Forrest’s wife had recently filed for divorce. According to the Huffington Post, Barry’s husband, Bruce Barry, seemed to show her support on social media.
The affair led Nashville to create a special committee to determine if Barry had misused public funds while in a relationship with Forrest. One example includes Forrest receiving a six-figure salary from overtime that he earned while spending extra hours with Barry.
Barry denied using taxpayer money to go on trips or pay other expenses to hide her affair.
According to the Tennessean, District Attorney Glenn Funk handled the case, and he said that “had this case gone to trial, witnesses are available who would testify that in March 2016 and January 2018 Megan Barry caused over $10G but less than $60G in Metro Nashville city funds to be expended unlawfully on Mr. Robert Forrest.”
Vice Mayor David Briley will be sworn in as Barry’s replacement. Barry was the city’s first female mayor, and she was sworn into office in September of 2015.
When Barry admitted to the affair in January, she stated, “I know that God will forgive me but Nashville doesn’t have to.”
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