GREENSBORO, N.C. — The Greensboro police chief has now fired four people on his team for sexual misconduct within the past six months.
Friday the chief charged now former officer Miguel Garcia with second degree forcible sex offense.
Thompson says they got a complaint about Garcia at the beginning of June.
Over the past few weeks, an internal investigation turned into a criminal one.
24-year-old, Garcia is accused of sexually assaulting a woman who has developmental disabilities.
The charge stems from an incident a month ago. Police say Garcia ended his shift, left work in his police car and uniform, and met up with the victim. That's when investigators believe the assault happened.
Thompson said at this point in the investigation, they do not believe Garcia met with the victim multiple times.
WFMY News 2's Hannah Jeffries asked Chief Thompson what his thoughts were on accusations like this against someone on his team.
"Every single one of us feel like we've just been punched in the gut," Thompson continued, "and now they're still expected to go out and do their job and do it well and meet our expectations and now they have to deal with this kind of hanging over their heads," exclaimed Thompson.
Within the past six months, Thompson has fired three other people accused of sexual misconduct. Two of them were officers. The other one was a member of their support staff.
Chief Thompson says they're having hours long conversations about how to identify this behavior before it turns into an act.
"Unfortunately, I think the nature of this incident makes it extremely difficult to try to catch on the front in with it," explained Thompson.
Thompson says Garcia was new to the force and had only been out on his own for about six months.