Staff report
GLASGOW — Two Glasgow Police Department assistant police chiefs were booked in the Warren County Regional Jail on Wednesday evening.
Maj. Maxie Murray, 36, and Maj. Johnny Travis, 41, both of Glasgow, are listed as federal prisoners held in transit/court on the jail’s Web site. Bond has not been set.
Charges against the two have not been released and the U.S. Attorney’s office would not comment.
The two turned themselves in to authorities in Glasgow on Wednesday afternoon.
A federal grand jury convened for at least a second time to hear testimony from members of the Glasgow Police Department at the William H. Natcher Federal Courthouse on Main Street in Bowling Green on Wednesday. Members of the police department also appeared before the grand jury in January. Travis and Murray did not appear before the grand jury on those two occasions.
Dawn Masden, spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Louisville, said her office could not confirm or deny anything that might have occurred Wednesday at the federal grand jury. When specifically asked why Murray and Travis were appearing on the Warren County Regional Jail’s Web site as prisoners with federal charges she simply reiterated she could not comment.
Murray has been a member of the police force since 1996. He was promoted to major and made commander of the investigation division in October 2007.
Travis has been a member of the force since 1992. He serves as head of the patrol division of the department and was promoted to major in June 2007.
A federal grand jury is made up of at least a dozen individuals chosen at random and hears only the prosecutor’s side of a case. A grand jury determines whether or not the evidence presented is enough to indict the accused.
Travis and Murray are expected to have an initial court appearance in U.S. District Court in Owens-boro this morning.
Glasgow Mayor Darrell Pickett was scheduled to meet with police chief Gary Bewley and city attorney Rich Alexander this morning, he said.
“I learned about this yesterday. I’m gathering facts. There will be a press conference later today,” Pickett said.
The press conference was planned for 11:30 this morning in the city council chambers.
Glasgow City Council member Freddie Norris said, “We’re pretty much in the dark on the details of the investigation. All I know is what I’ve been reading in the newspaper.”
Norris is a member of the public safety committee, which has oversight of the police department, fire department and community safety issues.
Calls to other members of the committee were not immediately returned.
This is one-half of a legal argument and all parties are considered innocent unless proven otherwise in court.
