Detroit Police Chief Ralph Godbee Jr. has been suspended amid allegations that the married official had an affair with another police officer. The accusation puts Godbee at the center of a sex scandal for the second time in his two-year tenure as chief.
Godbee, 44, is accused of having an inappropriate relationship with Angelica Robinson, a subordinate who is an Internal Affairs officer.
The alleged affair was exposed when Robinson, 37, reportedly discovered that Godbee was in San Diego for a police officers' conference with another woman, according to ABC News' Detroit affiliate WXYZ-TV. Robinson then reportedly posted a series of tweets about her relationship with Godbee, including a photo of her with a gun in her mouth.
Authorities became afraid she might harm herself and confiscated her weapon before sending her for a mental evaluation, according to WXYZ.
"After learning of the allegations regarding Chief Ralph Godbee, I have placed him on a 30-day suspension pending a full and thorough investigation of this matter," Detroit Mayor Dave Bing said in a statement. "In the interim, Assistant Chief Chester Logan will assume the duties and responsibilities of police chief."
Brandy Baker/Detroit News/AP Photo
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Watch Video Robert Warfield, a spokesman for the mayor's office, said the suspension is not the confirmation of any wrongdoing. There is no policy that prohibits officers from dating subordinates.
"We're not admitting to any allegation," he told ABCNews.com. "We're just taking a thorough look at the allegation."
Robinson told WXYZ that Godbee needs to "man up" and "quit being so damn selfish."
"I've been trying to get him to leave me, just leave me alone so I can just go ahead on and he go ahead on," she said. "I kept asking him to close the door on this and just walk away. Maybe we can be friends next year, but not right now."
Robinson said the relationship began in 2011 when the two began communicating through in-box messages on Facebook and then it grew more serious.
When asked whether Godbee ever told her to keep the relationship a secret, she said, "He didn't actually say those exact words, he just said that he wanted to trust me."
Robinson said she believes Godbee should "absolutely" be fired as police chief, but she hopes they can all repair their lives.
"I'll work on my marriage, preserving my marriage with my husband and my daughter. I apologize to his wife, I apologize to his daughter," she said. "Those are the only two women that's important in his marriage. They have gotten hurt."
Court records show that Godbee and his wife are in the middle of a divorce, according to WXYZ.
The scandal is the second time Godbee's time as chief has been tarnished since he started in 2010.
Godbee's predecessor as chief, Warren Evans, was forced to resign after a video he made for a possible reality-TV show about his being Detroit's police chief surfaced and he was accused of having a relationship with Detroit police officer Monique Patterson.
Godbee was appointed to replace Evans, and, soon after, text messages surfaced showing that he also apparently had a relationship with Patterson, WXYZ reported.
Godbee could not be reached for comment and the Detroit Police Department declined to comment on the matter.
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