Upshur Co Sheriff Sued: Wrongful Termination, Illegal Search and Cover-up Following Sexual Harassment Complaint

Sheriff Anthony Betterton

Upshur County, Texas 

A former jailer has filed a federal lawsuit against Upshur County and two employees of the Sheriff’s Office, contending he was wrongly fired and that his home was illegally searched.

John Scott Rose and his wife, Crystal Rose, say in the suit they filed May 20 that he was fired in “retaliation based upon his opposition to sexual harassment in the workplace and participation in protected activity.”

The two co-defendants accused of performing the illegal search are Terry Carter and Landon Burleson, who work for the Sheriff’s Office. According to the suit, they illegally searched the Roses’ residence after Rose filed a sexual harassment complaint to the chief deputy of the Sheriff’s Office. According to Rose, the complaint involved two Sheriff’s Department employees who allegedly made inappropriate sexual comments and/or suggestive communications with his wife.”

According to the lawsuit, following the complaint, the chief deputy reportedly talked to the two offending employees. One employee reportedly admitted to inappropriate ‘online’ comments, but the other employee denied the complaint in spite of the existence of incriminating e-mails. The investigation ended with Rose being re-assigned to an alternate shift. On Feb. 2, 2010, Crystal Rose emailed Sheriff’s Office Captain Gary Roberts and complained that one of the offending employees was continuing to spread rumors and/or statements in the workplace about her and her husband.”

On the evening of Feb. 3, 2010, the Roses and their minor children drove into town to pick up medication for him and have dinner. Upon returning to their rural home, they saw two Sheriff’s Department vehicles outside the residence and, “not knowing what was going on. . .(Mr. and Mrs. Rose) parked their vehicle” and told their children to stay in it.

The couple approached their home and saw Carter and Burleson inside. The two men “appeared startled to see the plaintiffs,” exited the home, and Carter handed Mr. Rose a cell phone.

“Standing by on the cell phone” was Roberts, who informed Rose that he and his wife needed to be at Roberts’s office at 9 a.m. the next day. The next morning, Roberts and Sheriff Anthony Betterton met with Mr. Rose, and “Sheriff Betterton (misspelled “Batterton” in the lawsuit) then terminated” Rose.

“The offending employees were never disciplined,” the lawsuit adds.

Sheriff Betterton made the news back in January as well, one of three Upshur County officials charged with official oppression and abuse of official capacity by a grand jury.