In a contentious reversal, former Plum Grove Police Chief John Joslin was reinstated to his previous position on Dec. 11, 2023, after a two-year dismissal. At Monday night’s Plum Grove City Council meeting, Joslin demanded the return of his position, threatening litigation against the City if his demands were not met.
Further stroking controversy was the support he received from newly sworn-in Position 4 Councilwoman Lee Ann Penton Walker, Joslin’s cousin, who pushed for her relative’s reinstatement and retroactive compensation.
Voting in favor of Joslin’s reinstatement were Penton Walker, her husband – Position 2 Councilman Rodney Walker, Position 5 Councilman Kevin Lee and Position 3 Councilwoman Danielle Enloe. The only nay vote came from Position 1 Councilwoman Deborah Bell.
The reinstatement came with some pushback from members of the Plum Grove community who spoke during public comments at the start of the meeting.
Former Councilwoman Diana Chunn presented Council with a copy of a petition being circulated that reportedly has been signed by 60-plus Plum Grove residents so far.
“If anybody would like to sign it, please come up and sign it now. It is covering basically his (Joslin’s) Brady letter, because Liberty County will not take it into the system. They won’t prosecute it. He has also been, from what I can find, just in open records, he has been charged with perjury on occasion, a couple of official oppression cases, and two felony indictments for tampering with government records, and that’s just things that I can find,” Chunn said.
Chunn also questioned how the City plans on paying Joslin’s annual salary of $45,000 and what they plan to do with the current Chief Brandon Frazier, who was still working in the position at the time of Monday night’s meeting. Because the City has a very tight budget, approximately $10,000 currently in the city coffers – Frazier has been offering his services as chief for a paltry sum of $10,000 annually, which he just began accepting in May 2023, previously working for free. Frazier also works as a police officer for an agency in Polk County and volunteers his time as Plum Grove fire chief.
“There’s nowhere in the budget for the salary. You can’t afford to hire him. What are you going to do with our current chief? Because if you fire him, you’ve opened yourself up for a lawsuit,” Chunn said. Redirecting to Joslin, Chunn added, “He also has a complaint against him by the city secretary, and the council members would not be protecting her if they bring him back… He was let go for reasons and cause. He has been told on multiple occasions to have his attorney talk to our attorney. He keeps going around and talking to the council members, and Liberty County has stated they will not touch any of his cases.”
In her comments, Chunn referred to Brady letters, one of which was sent to the City of Plum Grove in 2022 from the office of District Attorney Jennifer Bergman. The letter informed the City that the DA’s office would refuse to prosecute cases from Joslin based on a lack of trust in his investigations.
“When a peace officer presents a case to my office for possible prosecution, complete trust in the officer’s professionalism is an absolute and unwavering requirement for the commencement of a criminal prosecution in Liberty County. Therefore, please be advised that absent some extraordinary exigency, the Liberty County District Attorney’s Office will not sponsor as a witness Officer John Joslin, and will not accept charges presented to our office for intake by Officer John Joslin,” Bergman wrote.
On Monday, Dec. 11, the City of Plum Grove was advised that the Liberty County Attorney’s Office, which handles misdemeanor offenses, has issued a Brady letter as well against cases investigated and presented by Joslin.
County Attorney Matthew Poston in a 2019 letter listed the basis of his Brady letter as previous incidents involving Joslin, who previously served one term as Pct. 6 constable. In the letter, Poston wrote:
“In September 2001, while working as a sheriff’s deputy in Chambers County, Constable Joslin knowingly filed a false probable cause affidavit charging a citizen with Driving While Intoxicated. Charges were brought against Joslin’s superior officer, Dearl Hardy … Constable Joslin allowed Michael Gelagotis, a felon who had never obtained even a peace officer’s license, between 2013 and 2015, to represent himself as a deputy constable. Constable Joslin coordinated and secured security jobs available only to law enforcement officers for Mr. Gelagotis, in knowing violation of the Private Security Act. When asked about this fact by Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office during an investigation of Mr. Gelagotis, Constable Joslin knowingly gave a false statement. Constable Joslin currently awaits trial on the charge of perjury arising from this false statement.”
Michael Sager, the husband of former Councilwoman Carly Sager, also spoke against the rehiring of Joslin as police chief.
“My wife served on this city council for two and a half years. She sacrificed her time, her sweat, her energy, her family, and for that she did not receive one dime. She received accusations, insinuations, and threats, specifically from item agenda number 9 (pertaining to Joslin’s rehiring). If this city is so hell-bent on hanging itself, then I’m here to support that, and I support the rope that is John Joslin, so I hope you vote this in,” Sager said.
After public comments, Council went into executive session to discuss the reinstatement. When they returned 30 minutes later, there was some back-and-forth discussion between Penton Walker and Joslin about his recent expungement of past criminal charges.
“I’ve spent too much money dealing with y’all as it is. I’m not spending any more money, but I’ll spend more. We’re going to go to court in the fall soon. I’m sick of playing games with y’all. Either vote on it or not. I’m not trying to be ugly, but I’ve wrongfully terminated. My record is completely clear. Brandon knows that. He can’t say that it’s not, because he has access to that, and they were included in the expulsion. The Brady List was sent two years ago whenever I had two criminal charges on the record. They’ve been expunged since then,” Joslin told Council.
Prior to Monday night’s meeting, the City sought direction from its own prosecutor, Fresnel Phan, attorney at law. Phan responded to the City by email and stated, “If Mr. Joslin was rehired by the City as police chief, it would then be necessary for the prosecutor’s office to independently investigate these claims against Mr. Joslin. This independent investigation may result in the City Prosecution’s office issuing a substantially similar letter to the Liberty County DA’s Office that the city prosecutor’s office cannot, in good faith, rely on the testimony of Mr. Joslin or the police department under him.”
Joshua Haley, coverage and contracts counsel for the Texas Municipal League Intergovernmental Risk Pool, said rehiring Joslin “seems like a bad idea” considering that the City previously terminated him.
Citing the DA’s Brady letter, pending and previous investigations through the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement (TCOLE), and various criminal investigations and prosecutions in the past related to his role as peace officer, Haley said, “If any of the above issues are true, it seems hiring this person would greatly increase the City’s liability exposure.”
After voting to rehire him, Joslin was asked if he would be willing to negotiate the settlement of his back pay.
“I am not worried about back pay, except for two months. The City needs to move forward and quit fighting. We need to work together as a City,” he said.
After the meeting, a firestorm erupted at City Hall between Penton Walker, Joslin, Mayor Mary Arrendell and others when it was demanded that Joslin be given keys to the police department office even before he was sworn in as chief, which still has yet to take place.
Joslin, who currently works for Pct. 3 Commissioner David Whitmire, is also running in the March 5 primary for Pct. 6 constable, a position currently held by Zack Harkness.
What is wrong with the city council
They got themselves caught between a rock and a hard place…. the firing of Joslin wasn’t legal, he can sue the city for more than the city is worth for that action. So they had no choice but to re-instate him and cough up some back-pay (I’m surprised Joslin isn’t demanding two years of back-pay actually). Play stupid games, win stupid prizes and all that.
This guy is Toxic, don’t swear him back in. He’s going to Lie on the Bible, Good Ole Boy system and Nepotism
LOL! You are confused…. that’s Liberty County Commissioners Court you are thinking of friend. š
Plum Grove has turned into a toxic landfill.
Development next to your city sure is just great isn’t it? :-\
Plum Grove used to be a nice quite out-of-the-way place to live. That ship though, has sailed and sank! Ughhhh! š
He has got to be the most corrupt cop in Texas, the fbi should be looking long and hard at all of this.
Please explain how you came to that conclusion? Have you ever even met the man? I have, several times at city meetings. He made no secret that he had some legal issues he was having to fight against. The city knew all about him when they hired him to be City Police Chief, the vote to hire him was unanimous as I recall. But do you know why they really fired him? I might have some knowledge about that actually… and it isn’t being reported by anybody.
I have always heard that Plum Grove was a place for criminals, now the city council there has proven it.
Actually it was a very peaceful place to live for like over 2 decades with basically no crime at all BEFORE Colony Ridge moved in and started their huge developments next to the city…. all hell has broken loose out here since! We NEVER had murders in Plum Grove to my knowledge, prior to Colony Ridge… now dead bodies are found burned up in cars, dumped by the roadside, and shot to death just sitting in their cars! It’s become a very scary place to live, not the Plum Grove I bought my home in back in 1994! The City of Plum Grove City Council and Mayor and City Secretary can be explained quite simply as “tribalism”…. the various “founding families” of Plum Grove all pretty much hate one another they are constantly at each other’s throats there is NO sense of Community whatsoever in Plum Grove and that’s really sad in my opinion. As such, I have little hope that the city will survive very much longer in the face of Colony Ridge and Jay Knight…. Colony Ridge I do believe would benefit significantly if the City of Plum Grove were to be dissolved. Colony Ridge cannot incorporate their own city as long as City of Plum Grove still stands as I understand it. MMD stands for Municipal Management District… Municipal standing for Municipality, aka a “city”. So why does a private company have an MMD granted to it by the State Legislature exactly? Think about it people…. something fishy about that. Just saying.
Joslin and his office was raided by the Texas Rangers, and I donāt think they get involved with poobutt charges, and I donāt think they screw up. If they gotcha, you had it coming.
I believe you are commenting misinformation… as I recall, the City of Plum Grove police dept was raided by the Texas Rangers some time AFTER Joslin had been fired, and I believe it was at Joslin’s request/complaint. I know that Joslin was already fired for some time before that raid occurred you are referring to.
Ok so there was a different raid then by the Texas Rangers at Joslin’s constable office that I was not aware of till I found a Chron article about today. There was also a raid of the City of Plum Grove PD’s office that I recall happened some months AFTER Chief Joslin was fired though, I remember thinking it was probably at Joslin’s request (IDK this though). But I do not see that anything changed with John Joslin from the time the City of Plum Grove hired him to the time they fired him, hence I have a doubt that the firing was particularly legal and may have also been a breach of contract. Just saying… this whole affair is really complicated. And does City of Plum Grove now have 2 acting Police Chiefs and how does THAT work? Also how did a Fire Dept Chief get hired to replace John Joslin as a Police Chief? The 2 roles I would not think overlap. :-\
Im pretty sure joslin is one of those Cleveland mason gang members, there ya go!
Plumstupid Grove
I can’t disagree with you on that point! After having lived there for over 2 decades, I can tell you that it’s not a “community” it’s more like a bunch of little tribes (the various “founding families”) that all mostly hate one another with just ridiculous infighting that never stops! There is no sense of community in the City of Plum Grove to be found, and that’s a true shame. š
Nepotism at it’s finest. Family voting crooked family members into office. Sure makes you wonder where his pay will come from too. Jacking illegals probably.
Well according to the Federal AG’s Lawsuit just filed against Colony Ridge, they’re the ones that have been “jacking illegals” with predatory lending practices and deceptive trade. The City of Plum Grove itself has no real need for it’s own police force, except for all the thru-traffic that has very seriously damaged the city infrastructure and brought ridiculous levels of crime to the area with frequent murders and dead bodies being found dumped by the roadsides! Prior to Colony Ridge’s developments out here, the city of Plum Grove had been just fine without a city police department for like over 2 1/2 decades there was almost no traffic and even less crime in the area… but that ship, has sailed and sank it won’t be coming back unfortunately ever! š