Hancock deputy resigns before arrest in alleged assault of woman at MS Coast restaurant
A Hancock County sheriff’s deputy resigned amid a criminal investigation into an alleged assault of a woman outside of a D’Iberville restaurant led to his arrest, Sheriff Ricky Adam confirmed to the Sun Herald.
Former patrol Deputy Joseph “Joe” Gendreau turned himself in Thursday evening at the D’Iberville Police Department, where he was arrested on a misdemeanor charge of simple assault, D’Iberville Police Chief Shannon Nobles confirmed.
Gendreau got out of jail on a $2,500 bond after his arrest.
Gendreau is accused of causing the woman fear of physical harm while allegedly making unwanted sexual advances on her by “groping, fondling and rubbing her crotch and breast areas” despite her repeated attempts to get him to stop, according to court papers filed in the case.
The criminal affidavit also says that Gendreau made “inappropriate sexual insinuations” and allegedly solicited the woman for sex during the assault.
The incident occurred around 6:20 a.m. on June 4.
D’Iberville police responded to a report of the incident the same day, but Gendreau had already left the business.
Nobles said that the investigating officers looked at video footage from the restaurant to identify Gendreau as the suspect.
Police believe Gendreau went to the business after working his overnight shift as a security guard at a nearby bar in D’Iberville.
The Sun Herald attempted to reach Gendreau for comment.
Before his arrest, the Sun Herald found out about the criminal allegations and reached out to Sheriff Adam to find out the status of Gendreau’s employment. The sheriff said Gendreau resigned before the arrest.
Adam said that Gendreau had worked in patrol for about a year and had served in other capacities at the sheriff’s department before that.
A history of alleged wrongdoing
Gendreau is among several other law enforcement officers in Hancock County who have resigned or faced termination due to alleged wrongdoing.
Former K-9 deputy, narcotics agent, and patrol deputy Colin Freeman resigned in October after the Sun Herald collected records and conducted interviews about his Aug. 8, 2021 arrest for domestic violence by simple assault.
The victim was his then-live-in girlfriend and a fellow sheriff’s employee.
The arrest went unreported until the Sun Herald broke the story on the investigation and Freeman’s arrest.
Three months later, Hancock County Justice Court Judge Brian Necaise gave Freeman a non-adjudicated sentence for the domestic assault.
When someone receives a non-adjudicated sentence, they will not have a criminal record once they complete the sentence and the judge dismisses the case.
The judge sentenced Freeman to six months probation, fined him and ordered him to attend anger management classes, something he had done previously after his first domestic violence conviction.
On June 14, Freeman returned to Justice Court, where Judge Necaise dismissed the second domestic violence case against Freeman because he had completed the terms of his sentence, according to the dismissal order.
It is now the second time Freeman has walked away from a domestic violence conviction without any criminal record of the offense, paving the way for him to continue serving in law enforcement.
Waveland Judge P.J. Murray was the first judge to sentence Freeman to a non-adjudicated sentence for a domestic violence conviction there in 2015. At the time of that 2015 arrest, Freeman had been working at the Sheriff’s Department for three years.
Under federal law, anyone convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence can not own or carry a firearm, essentially eliminating someone’s ability to become a law enforcement officer. But in Mississippi, there is no state law to uphold the federal restriction.
The firing of a federal agent and narcotics commander
In an unrelated case in June, Adam fired Hancock County narcotics commander Benjamin Taylor after a Sun Herald report and criminal investigation about how Taylor allegedly manufactured and produced fraudulent DNA test results for denying he fathered a girlfriend’s child.
Taylor allegedly had his attorney file the fraudulent papers in the child support case in Harrison County Chancery Court with a request for Judge Jennifer Schloegel to withdraw her earlier order for him to pay monthly child support and back child support for the little girl.
The child lives with her mother, Branissa Stroud, in Hancock County.
Taylor’s attorney, Cassidy Anderson, later acknowledged the fraudulent paperwork in court papers, withdrawing his request for the judge to remove her child support order. Anderson is also asking to withdraw as Taylor’s attorney.
Attorney Michael Holleman has asked for a judge to levy sanctions against Taylor in the child support case for his alleged wrongdoing.
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Meanwhile, there’s an ongoing criminal investigation into the alleged fraud by Taylor.
Taylor has not responded to the Sun Herald’s requests for comment.
Deputy fired amid child sex crime allegations
In an unrelated incident in February, Hancock County Deputy Derrick Flanagan was arrested on two counts of exploitation of children and accessing child pornography.
His arrest followed a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children about someone accessing child pornography on computers at the Sheriff’s Department.
The Hancock County Sheriff’s Department referred the allegations to the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office for an independent investigation that ultimately led to Flanagan’s charges.
This story was originally published June 21, 2022 at 8:00 AM.
