State Trooper Suspended After Allegedly Receiving Sexual Favor for Ignoring Driver's Drug Possession
The Tennessee Highway Patrol has suspended a trooper who allegedly
received a sexual favor from a porn star and recorded the act with a
camera from his cruiser in return for ignoring her possession of
illegal painkillers.
The woman, who goes by the stage name Barbie Cummings, said that at a
traffic stop on May 7, trooper James Randy Moss found illegal
painkillers in her car, but decided not to bust the Knoxville woman in
return for a sexual favor.
Now Moss is on paid administrative leave pending an investigation by the Tennessee Department of Safety.
The incident came to the attention of officials when someone
filed an internal complaint against the veteran trooper, according to
Tennessee Highway Patrol spokesman Mike Browning.
Browning told ABC News that he could add few details beyond a
press release issued Friday that announced Moss' indefinite suspension.
But a blog maintained by the woman, which recounts sordid
details of the alleged escapade, has drawn additional attention to the
case, and the department is investigating whether Moss may have
violated the law while on duty.
Crying Over 'Happy Pills'
The woman, who in an interview with ABC News would only reveal her
actual first name, Justis, posted the entry on May 7, the date of the
alleged offense. She said she was pulled over around 1 a.m. on a
Tennessee highway for driving 92 mph in a 70 mph zone.
In the blog, Justis writes that after pulling her over, the trooper
found her "happy pills" -- painkillers -- while searching her car.
Justis does not specifically name Moss.
The trooper explained that the punishment for the narcotics
possession would likely prevent her from leaving the state, at which
point Justis said she became upset and started to cry.
"He wanted to know why," Justis told ABC News.
She said she told him that as a porn star under contract, she
must travel from Knoxville to Los Angeles once a month to shoot scenes.
She said the two then moved inside Moss' cruiser where she said
he asked about Web sites on which she might be featured. She gave him
the domain name for her blog, and the two of them watched clips from
two of her movies on the laptop in his cruiser, she wrote on the blog.
Then the trooper took "the hand full (sic) of pills and scatters them
in the brush next to the interstate," she wrote in the blog. After
that, she claims he asked her to follow him to a secluded place, where
she performed oral sex while he allegedly took photographs and short
video clips using a hand-held camera from his cruiser.
Justis said she didn't want to get Moss into trouble and
suspects he incriminated himself by talking about the incident. She
said he called her the day after the traffic stop to ask if he could
share the tale with his co-workers.
She said the trooper also e-mailed her the photos and video, which she promptly posted on her blog.
Justis said she has few regrets about what she did. And as for Moss,
who could not be reached for comment, she said she feels some sympathy,
but insisted that he brought the situation upon himself.
"He's not necessarily being punished for the act itself, but he
did go to the adult Web site on a computer that was assigned to him,
and he did do this on duty," Justis said. "He made all these decisions
as a grown-up, there was no coercing or nothing."
There's a chance the two may meet again when Justis attends her
court date next month. Despite the alleged tryst, she still received a
$180 speeding ticket from Moss.
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