KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The sheriff in Kansas City’s Jackson County is resigning after recently released court documents described him having a sexual and financial relationship with a female employee who’s suing the county.
Sheriff Mike Sharp described what happened in written statement Wednesday as a “personal failing.” The Kansas City Star reports that Sharp acknowledged in court documents that he gave an administrative assistant $8,000 as a down payment for a house after she alleged in a lawsuit that other co-workers sexually harassed her. Court records also say Sharp took the woman on taxpayer-funded trips and approved so many raises for her that she became the highest-paid civilian sheriff’s office employee.
A sheriff’s office spokesman says Sharp has submitted his resignation and that it will be effective Thursday.