Deputy police chief accused of sexual assault retires from Atlanta VA

ATLANTA - A top brass for the Atlanta VA’s police force, accused of sexually assaulting a former dispatcher, has quit the department.

But it’s apparently not because of any move by Veterans Affairs to hold him accountable. Former Deputy Chief of Police Johnnie McCullor retired at the end of June while still under investigation, a VA spokesman confirmed.

Asked if McCullor stepped down under pressure, the agency said in an email, "Retirement is a personal and voluntary choice, and VA cannot force employees to retire early." Nor can the VA discipline a departed employee, the agency said.

McCullor, 65, had been suspended with pay since May, along with Police Chief Beverly Banks, over "allegations of unacceptable behavior," which include "allegations of sexual assault and harassment," the government told the FOX 5 I-Team.

The deputy chief’s quiet exit marks another turn in the VA’s efforts to root out dysfunction within the Atlanta Veterans Administration Medical Center Police Department – and a major disappointment for his alleged victim.

"I was hoping he would be terminated," Shaneka Jackson said, "(that he) also would have to face the consequences for everything he did, and everything I endured at his hands."

The I-Team reached out to McCullor by phone, text and email for this story, but he did not respond.

More than two years have passed since Jackson, a single mom and retired Air Force military police officer, accused him of groping her and exposing himself to her in his office.

"I have nightmares, I have constant dreams about this," she said. "I try to cope, but it's hard to cope with this."

Jackson shared her story with the FOX 5 I-Team earlier this year, saying she applied to join the Atlanta VA Police Department in 2021. After working months in dispatch waiting for a slot to open for mandatory police academy training, she said she had to resign because the pandemic kept delaying the start of the class.

According to an Equal Employment Opportunity complaint she filed with the VA, Jackson said McCullor offered to help her get a job with Culpepper & Associates Security, the private security company the Atlanta VA also uses.

She alleged in her complaint, though, McCullor wanted sex in return.

"He told me that, one day in his office – that it would cost me because he assisted me with getting a job with the security company," Jackson told the I-Team. "He sexually assaulted me … He inappropriately touched me. He groped me."

When McCullor met with EEOC investigators, he denied all of Jackson’s claims.

An administrative judge dismissed her complaint, saying it wasn't filed in a timely manner and she wasn't a VA employee when most of her allegations happened. She has appealed.

But when the VA’s Office of the Senior Security Officer looked into her allegations two years ago, it came down on her side, calling her reports "accurate and truthful." According to the investigation findings, obtained by the I-Team through the Freedom of Information Act, staff described McCullor to investigators as "vindictive, condescending, toxic, and has having a reputation as a ‘womanizer.’"

The report also said the deputy's chief's behavior created the appearance "that he had a romantic interest in Jackson."

Despite the findings, McCullor remained the department’s second-in-command. The VA told the I-Team "disciplinary measures were implemented in response to substantiated claims," but would not elaborate, citing privacy.

Jackson, meanwhile, lost her job with the private security company. She claims that after she accidentally sent McCullor a text – which read, "Snakes only get so far" – he went to her boss and asked that she be fired.

The I-Team found she was ultimately demoted and transferred, then fired when she failed to show up for work. The security company denied Deputy Chief McCullor played any role in the decision.

In December 2023, another female officer filed a handwritten complaint with her supervisor, accusing McCullor of threatening to drag her down the hall by her hair. It’s unclear what happened with that complaint.

Then in May, the VA announced "immediate action to address the challenges in the Atlanta VA police department," taking away both McCullor’s and Chief Banks’ badges and access to firearms. (Major Daryl Gates was also suspended but has since been reinstated.)

The VA has appointed an acting chief and deputy chief to run the department, with a national team tasked to "internally investigate this situation in the Atlanta VA police department, make recommendations regarding the Atlanta VA PD, and identify other changes that might be needed to improve the culture."

Since that announcement, the FOX 5 I-Team obtained an audio recording from a 2023 command staff meeting, provided by an officer in attendance, wherein Chief Banks is heard telling staff, "I don’t want to hire black women no more."

"I don’t have no Hispanic women," the diatribe by Banks, who is black, continues. "Hell, I don’t want them neither. ‘Cause you know what comes with it? A whole of lot of f-----g attitude. And I don’t want it. I’m the only one with an attitude in this place. Me."

Chief Banks had overseen the department since late 2022, when she inherited an organization brimming with complaints involving favoritism and sexism.

"Appropriate action will be taken when the investigation concludes," the statement from a VA spokesman said. "There is no place for racism or sexual harassment at VA, and we are treating these allegations with the utmost seriousness and urgency."