Texts surfaced during CMPD probe into Flock camera misuse
Five Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officers resigned in recent days and a sixth remains suspended after they allegedly exchanged racist text messages, Patterson said at a Thursday news conference. Patterson called the correspondence “deeply troubling.” The five officers who resigned are Mateo Juarez, Joseph Kelly, Tredan Maronic, Matthew Osborn and Alexander Larsen — all hired in 2023 or 2024. Patterson had moved to fire each of them. A sixth officer, Jeremiah Todman, hired in 2022, remained suspended pending an internal investigation and a civil service board review, the department said in a statement.
According to ABC News, the messages contained racist slurs and the alleged use of the N-word. Charlotte news outlet WSOC reported that one of the messages likened the officers to a “clan rally,” an apparent reference to the Ku Klux Klan. The same outlet said one of the five was president of their recruit class and that another had received an employee-of-the-month award earlier in the year. Patterson did not disclose the content of the texts at the news conference.
The correspondence surfaced during the department’s investigation into misuse of the Flock license-plate camera system, Patterson said. A seventh officer, Seth Elliot, resigned in August after being accused of improperly viewing Flock camera data, according to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department. His resignation came days after his arrest by the North Carolina Bureau of Investigation for illegally accessing a government computer.
None of the officers had been charged with criminal wrongdoing in connection with the text exchanges. ABC News reported it was unclear whether any of the officers other than Elliot had retained an attorney. Elliot’s lawyer, George Laughrun, did not return a request for comment. The department on Monday released the personnel files identifying the five officers after a public-records request from local media.
Patterson said she had requested an FBI civil rights investigation. She has also ordered a full review of body-worn camera footage and arrest records associated with each of the officers and said she intends to seek revocation of the officers’ state law enforcement certifications.
Beyond the individual cases, Patterson said she was auditing how the department interacts with the public. “I have been concerned whether this type of behavior is systemic throughout the department,” she said. “We have begun and will continue auditing [body-worn camera] footage. We’re going to look at the interactions that our officers are having with members of the public to make sure that they are outstanding.”
Patterson, who is Black and began her career at CMPD, framed the episode in personal terms. “As a Black woman who began my career here in this very department, it is especially painful and disheartening to hear concerns from our community about racism coming from within the ranks of this organization,” she said. “Although the officers involved in this investigation were hired before my tenure as chief, that does not lessen my responsibility or my commitment to making sure that what was discovered in this case is not a systemic problem in this organization.”
“The overwhelming majority of our employees do exceptional work every single day,” Patterson added. “They come to work to serve this community, and they demonstrate that in their actions. They do their work with respect, with compassion, and professionalism. We will not allow the misconduct of a few to define the whole.”
The department said it remained “committed to accountability and providing access to public records in accordance with the law, while respecting the integrity of any ongoing investigations and potential legal proceedings.” The Guardian has contacted the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Fraternal Order of Police lodge that represents the department’s officers for comment.