close
close

An Ohio police officer says he won’t help Democratic voters in trouble

An Ohio police officer says he won’t help Democratic voters in trouble

Sheriff’s lieutenant in Ohio County center of Donald Trump’s false claims allegedly wrote several Facebook posts about Haitian immigrants saying he would not help people in need if they voted for Democrats.

Lt. John Rogers of the Clark County Sheriff’s Office reportedly wrote on Facebook on Oct. 20: “I’m sorry. If you support the Democratic Party, I will not help you.” WHIO reports

His account did not appear in a PEOPLE Facebook search on Monday, Nov. 4.

In two other posts, the dates of which were not available in the screenshots released by WHIO, Rogers made similar comments, even saying he would not help the Democrat “live through the end of days.”

“The problem is, I know which of you support the Democratic Party, and I’m not going to help you survive the end of days,” he wrote in one post, WHIO reported.

Another screenshot shows him claiming he will demand “proof” from people of who they voted for.

“At the end of the day, I require you to provide proof of who you voted for if you ask me for help,” he wrote. “Guns and ammunition are not cheap.”

Rodgers has since apologized for the remarks, saying they were “out of character” and attributed them to sleeping pills, Associated Press reports

His comments came weeks after Springfield, which is the seat of Clark County, became the focus of Trump’s false claims that Haitians in the city eat pets. There were complaints denied by the city of Springfield who said that there is no reliable evidence of such events in the city.

Rumors allegedly led to bomb threats in schools and city buildings which were allegedly motivated by Trump’s statements, USA Today reported at the time.

After Rogers’ Facebook posts were discovered, the sheriff’s office said in a statement that they were “inappropriate” and did not reflect the sentiments of the sheriff’s department.

“It is clear that while these comments are grossly inappropriate, they in no way reflect on the service provided by the Clark County Sheriff’s Office to our ENTIRE community,” WHIO, the Associated Press and CBS News.

“The community has every right to be upset by Lt. Rogers’ actions, and he, as well as the Sheriff’s Office as a whole, will have to work even harder to restore the trust of members of our community,” the statement said.

He was not placed on leave, but was given a written reprimand for violating the department’s social media policy, the sheriff’s department said.

Want to keep up with the latest crime news? Subscribe to THE PEOPLE free True Crime newsletter for breaking crime news, coverage of ongoing trials and details of intriguing unsolved cases.

In response to the reprimand, Rogers reportedly said he was unaware of the posts on his Facebook page and could not find them on his page after a colleague alerted him to them, according to Springfield News-Sun.

He reportedly claimed he was taking sleeping pills that made him act “uncharacteristically.” Springfield News-Sun and WHIO.

He said he deactivated his Facebook account after the posts appeared Springfield News-Sun.

The Clark County Sheriff’s Office did not respond to PEOPLE’s requests for comment.