FRANKLIN, Ind. --
A merit commission Tuesday upheld the suspension of a Franklin police officer accused of inappropriately touching a female informant during a drug investigation.
Officer Bryan Burton, 35, was charged in late December with battery and official misconduct and was suspended without pay from the department last month.
After hearing testimony from several witnesses, including the Franklin police chief, merit commission members voted unanimously to uphold the suspension.
According to a probable cause affidavit, a Franklin detective working with Burton on a case in June 2009 said he saw Burton tape a recording device to an informant's genital area and then touch the informant's genitals and genital piercing.
In March 2010, Burton was demoted and placed on a 45-day suspension for violating eight different parts of the department's code of conduct, including having sexually suggestive conversations with female informants, providing alcohol to minors, drinking while on duty and failing to report an accident.
Franklin Mayor Fred Paris said at the time that Burton was undercover for two years on a drug detail and did not have enough supervision.
Burton had been on administrative duty since his return to the department in May of last year because of the ongoing state police investigation.
Copyright 2011 by TheIndyChannel.com All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
