Chesapeake Police
A Virginia cop and his spouse are each going through legal costs after she secretly recorded him to show he was having an affair—and by accident captured what is perhaps key data in a felony trial.
Sharon Maddox, 41, admitted in a bond listening to Wednesday to bugging her husband, Chesapeake Police officer Sean Maddox, after she turned involved he was dishonest on her final April. She advised native information outlet 10 On Your Aspect that she surreptitiously positioned a recording gadget in his squad automobile for 3 days after discovering a blonde hair in his automobile and a few suspicious exercise on his Fb.
Based on her lawyer, Kristin Paulding, the tape confirmed what Sharon suspected: that her husband was sleeping with a neighborhood 911 dispatcher. The recording might need remained secret eternally if the dispatcher hadn’t accused Sean Maddox weeks later of abducting and raping her on April 27—the day after his spouse put the recording gadget in his automobile.
On June 1, Maddox was arrested on costs together with abduction, rape, and sodomy. Sharon’s lawyer mentioned she willingly handed over her recordings to her husband’s protection legal professional after he was arrested, in an try to show his innocence. When Chesapeake police began questioning Sharon in regards to the recordings, Paulding mentioned, she thought they had been on the lookout for proof in opposition to him. As a substitute, they charged her this week with wiretapping for making the key tape.
“She was undoubtedly just a little blindsided by it as a result of she did not know they had been really investigating her,” Paulding mentioned. “She believed they needed the recording to assist with the case in opposition to her husband, which was already going ahead.”
Maddox is a 13-year veteran of the Chesapeake Police Division, the place he served as a lieutenant earlier than dropping his job over the fees. Based on the 911 dispatcher’s courtroom testimony, the 2 started having an affair in January of final yr, which rapidly progressed to them having intercourse at the least as soon as per week. By April, nonetheless, the dispatcher mentioned, she had grown suspicious that the officer was not going to depart his spouse, and she or he started desirous about ending the connection.
On April 26, she claims, Sean Maddox gave her $100 money to e-book a resort room and ordered her to satisfy him there that evening, as they usually did. The dispatcher claims she booked the resort room, however went on a date with one other police officer as an alternative—throughout which era she claims Maddox referred to as and texted her 25 instances.
On her drive residence early that morning, she claims, she was pulled over by a Chesapeake patrol automobile, which turned out to be Maddox. She claims he threatened to cost her with a faux offense and compelled her to go to the resort, the place he proceeded to rape her orally, anally, and vaginally. She additionally says he filmed elements of the encounter and threatened to ship it to anybody else she tried so far.
Days later, in accordance with an arrest warrant obtained by 13 Information Now, Maddox texted her to say that she had “no thought how arduous I needed to attempt to management myself and never do dangerous issues,” later clarifying: “To you, lots of issues, harm you.”
“And it’s nonetheless an choice,’ he allegedly added. “Maintain your head on a swivel.”
Maddox’s protection attorneys paint a special model of occasions, claiming the dispatcher was a scorned lover who turned on the officer when he refused to depart his spouse. They claimed on the listening to that she despatched a number of textual content messages within the days after the alleged assault saying she beloved him and needed to be with him, and accusing him of “ghosting” her when he didn't reply. (The lady mentioned she didn't recall sending these messages at the moment.)
In a press release to The Every day Beast, legal professional Taite Westendorf referred to as the case a “actual life instance of Deadly Attraction” and mentioned the girl had “admitted to being in love with Mr. Maddox and turning into emotionally unstable when he refused to depart his household for her.”
“Mr. Maddox is totally harmless of all costs and appears ahead to a jury of his friends exercising the frequent sense that has been sorely lacking from the federal government’s method to this case,” he mentioned.
Sharon Maddox’s legal professional, in the meantime, says she can't perceive why police would pursue costs in opposition to the veteran Animal Management sergeant when neither her husband nor the dispatcher have requested them.
“She’s simply making an attempt to guard her personal pursuits and see if her marriage is falling aside—which in reality it was—after which they flip round and her personal employer simply sort of sticks it to her,” Paulding mentioned.
Sharon has but to be indicted however she has misplaced her job with Animal Management. Maddox is anticipated to go to trial Might 17.
Each Paulding and Westendorf say their shoppers are supporting one another via their respective trials, although they declined to touch upon their present dwelling preparations. At his bail listening to, Sharon advised a decide that Maddox may come again to their household residence if he was launched, and Paulding mentioned Maddox was in courtroom for her preliminary listening to on Wednesday.
“They’re undoubtedly a unified entrance in supporting one another in every of their circumstances,” she mentioned.