Police officer who slept with six colleagues claims she was ‘sexually groomed’

Charlie Herbert

Maegan Hall has filed a lawsuit against La Vergne Police Department

A police officer who engaged in sexual acts with several of her colleagues has claimed she was “groomed for sexual exploitation.”

Maegan Hall made headlines earlier this year when she was named at the centre of an investigation at La Vergne Police Department, Tennessee, that led to five officers being let go, including Hall.

The group were accused of having sex on duty, sending explicit images to one another and having wild parties together.

The investigation found that Hall, 26, was intimately involved with four other officers – Sergeant Lewis Powell, Sergeant Henry Ty McGowan, Detective Seneca Shields and Officer Juan Lugo-Perez.

All were subsequently fired, but Hall was the only female police officer fired in connection to the scandal.

Patrol and K-9 Officer Larry Holladay, Patrol Officer Patrick Magliocco and Patrol Officer Gavin Schoeberl were also suspended.

Hall has now filed a lawsuit against La Vergne Police Department and her former coworkers, claiming that she was groomed by her colleagues, who would ‘share tips on the best way to manipulate and exploit her.’

In the lawsuit, Hall admitted to engaging in sexual acts with Powell, Magliocco, Holladay, Shields and Lugo-Perez, with the addition of officer McGowan too.

Filed on Monday (February 27), the lawsuit alleges that Hall was a victim of sexual harassment, naming the city of La Vergne, Powell, McGowan and Davis as defendants. It also outlines that such harassment took place whilst she was being groomed for “sexual exploitation”.

“Maegan Hall felt trapped in the role assigned to her at the City of La Vergne Police Department and, in an attempt to escape, she nearly killed herself,” the lawsuit reads.

“Then, the City blamed her for everything. This lawsuit seeks justice for Maegan Hall.”

It also claims that Hall frequently experienced harassment in the workplace which was “permeated with sexual innuendo and sexually explicit behavior.”

Civil rights attorney Wesley Clark, who filed the suit on Hall’s behalf, said that Hall was “looked at like a piece of meat to be sexualized and exploited,” NBC affiliate WSMV reports.

He added that Hall said not to sexual advances on several occasions, but that her supervisors kept pressuring her until she gave in.

In a lawsuit against the police department, the city and her co-workers, Hall claims she was ‘sexually groomed’ (La Vergne Police Department)

“There are going to be those who say they are consenting adults, and she is trying to place the blame elsewhere. It is easy to think that when you don’t know the whole story,” he said.

The lawsuit claims that the officers “colluded in using their authority to systematically disarm her resistance and entrap her in degrading and abusive sexual relationships – even sharing tips on the best ways to manipulate and exploit her.”

“When Sgt. Powell wanted sex, he refused to take ‘no’ for an answer. He continued demanding sex, saying things like ‘We’ll do it tomorrow,’ or ‘I’ve done so much for you, I’ve helped you,’ and ‘I’ve done so much for you in your personal life’,” the lawsuit stated.

It continues: “The sexually coercive environment on the second shift at the La Vergne Police Department triggered increasingly severe symptoms of mental illness in Ms. Hall.

“Ms. Hall is entitled to an award of punitive damages against defendants Powell, McGowan, and Davis in an amount to be determined by a jury for the acts committed with malice or reckless disregard described in this complaint.”

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