Overview
- WCPO published Oct. 15 emails and texts showing Chief Teresa Theetge asked to meet, then received messages from City Manager Sheryl Long to call her and return to Cincinnati on the earliest flight while Theetge was at a Denver conference.
- The correspondence shows Theetge obtained an employment lawyer by Friday and was placed on paid administrative leave on Oct. 20.
- An internal Aug. 15 email obtained by WLWT shows Long required all police communications, external meetings and announcements to be cleared through her office and the city spokesperson, and any political outreach to go through government affairs.
- The city hired the law firm Frost Brown Todd to conduct the leadership review at a reported cost of $40,000.
- Theetge’s attorneys say she will not resign and call the move a search for a scapegoat, while her family and supporters urged transparency at a council meeting and alleged political motives that Mayor Aftab Pureval has denied.