Nashville, Tenn. Mayor Megan Barry resigns as part of plea agreement
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) – Megan Barry resigned from the office of mayor of Nashville Tuesday morning per conditions of a plea agreement for felony theft charges.
“My time today as mayor concludes. My unwavering love and sincere affection for this city and its great people will never come to an end,” said Barry in a press conference.
Vice Mayor David Briley will be sworn into office in later Tuesday. He will be the eighth mayor of Nashville.
“Today is primarily about the smooth transition from my administration to that of Vice Mayor. I would be remiss if I did not thank the thousands and thousands of people who have reached out to me,” said Barry.
“God bless this wonderful city, I love you Nashville,” said Barry as she ended her press conference.
One condition of Barry’s plea agreement was to resign from the office of mayor.
Barry pleaded guilty to felony theft of property over $10,000 charges. It is a conditional plea agreement for which Barry will receive three years unsupervised probation
She also must pay $11,000 in restitution and if she follows her plea agreement for next three years, the charges can be dismissed and expunged.
In court, District Attorney General Glenn Funk said that had the case gone to trial, witnesses would have testified that between March 2016 and February 2018 Megan Barry caused over $10,000 and no less than $60,000 of Metro Nashville city funds to be expended unlawfully.
Mayor Barry had been under investigation by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and the Metro Council.
The investigation began after Barry admitted to the public on Jan. 31 that she had an extramarital affair with her former head of security, Sgt. Robert Forrest. The relationship, she said was consensual, and began shortly after she took office in 2015.
She said nothing illegal took place during the affair and that the relationship with Forrest has since ended.
Metro Nashville Police records show Forrest’s overtime more than doubled in the budget year after Barry was elected in September 2015. Barry said the affair began in spring 2016, an affidavit said.
Barry has not said when the affair ended, only that it’s over. Forrest, who had spent more than 31 years with Metro Nashville Police and supervised the mayor’s security detail over three administrations, has retired.
Barry had remained adamant that she will not resign from her position as mayor.
“I have lots of work to do in this city and every day I get up and I do it,” she said. “I’ve been very forthcoming with everything. I think the citizens of Davidson County continue to want us to get up every day and work. I have a great team, we have great Metro employees that get up every day to make sure this city runs, and I’m going to continue to lead that.”