Sex offenders were allegedly demanded to pose naked for photographs by a sheriff's deputy in Texas, Huffington Post reported. Now, he is facing charges of improper photography after an inspection of his county-issued camera revealed several more images of nude men taken in similar surroundings.
Chad Hightower, 41, a sergeant with 22 years experience with the Wise County Sheriff's Department, was arrested Sept. 12 after a 28-year-old man filed a complaint.
In June, the unidentified man, after recently completing a sentence for indecent exposure, tried to register as a sex offender at Hightower's office, according to WFAA TV. Claiming that a new state law required all sex offenders to be photographed in the nude, he allegedly took the man into the lobby's bathroom and clicked numerous pictures of him in different poses.
A month later, when the man met with Hightower to update his sex offender information, he was allegedly told that more pictures needed to be taken since the first set of photographs turned out to be defective because of a glare.
The victim was then reportedly driven in a county vehicle to the county's impound yard and photographed again in Hightower's office.
According to the arrest warrant affidavit, Hightower allegedly attempted to get the victim to pose with an erection.
"After a short time, Deputy Hightower reportedly advised (the victim) he believed the next thing the State was going to require was photographs of a sex offender's erect penis. Deputy Hightower asked (the victim) if he could obtain an erection for him, so that the needed photographs could be taken and (the victim) would not have to return in the future for them."
After Hightower failed to make the victim comply with his request, the man was eventually allowed to get dressed and go home.
Jack McGuinn, a Wise County district attorney Investigator, told the Wise County Messenger that the victim was able to describe details that would only be known by someone who had been inside the impound lot, according to Huffington Post reported.
Hightower's actions, caught in a surveillance video, are "consistent with (the victim's) description of events," according to the affidavit.
On Friday, Hightower was charged with improper photography and released on $25,000 bail. He has been placed on leave pending a retirement scheduled for Sept. 30.
Meanwhile, Hightower is believed to have asked other sex offenders to engage in similar improper acts, investigators said.
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