A Warren County deputy facing a series of department and constitutional violations was suspended after filing to run for sheriff. The sheriff then oversaw the hearing that led to the deputy’s termination. And it was legal.
The sheriff of Warren County and a deputy he fired will square off in Kentucky’s May primary election. Sheriff Brett Hightower is being challenged by fellow Republican Mark Heyungs who Hightower dismissed from the sheriff’s office on Feb. 24 following a disciplinary hearing.
Department leadership maintains he was fired for poor job performance.
“It was becoming apparent to me that any further retention of him would be negligent,” said Chief Deputy Kevin Wiles, who recommended Heyungs’ termination.
Heyungs says he was retaliated against for complaining about the work culture and for becoming Hightower’s political opponent.
“The employees of the sheriff’s office deserve good leadership, but that’s not the current environment,” Heyungs said.
Legal precedent would have allowed his immediate termination for challenging Sheriff Hightower in the election. Hightower says he didn’t want that perception. He maintains Heyungs was fired for the right reasons, to protect the sheriff’s office and the public.
Before he was fired, Heyungs received an administrative hearing into his violations, and the ruling authority, by law, was the sheriff.
Heyungs an ‘asset’ to the agency
Heyungs spent 20 years in the U.S. Army as a military policeman and a criminal investigator. He retired in 2021 and joined the Warren County Sheriff’s Office as a deputy. He later became a detective and was eventually promoted to sergeant.
During that time, Heyungs received a state award for his work with child abuse victims and the department recognized him for saving the life of an overdose victim.
“I’ve never been in trouble until suddenly this last year,” Heyungs told WKU Public Radio. “My record is stellar.”
His performance reviews back up those claims with no marks below “satisfactory.”
“Heyungs was reassigned a few months ago from the patrol division to CID as a detective, which further shows the agency’s recognition of his skills,” wrote Patrol Operations Supervisor Sgt. Marshall Johnson in a 2023 performance evaluation. “Heyungs was an asset to the shift while working as a deputy and I am confident he will prove beneficial to the agency in his new role as a detective.”
Heyungs complains of ‘hostile’ work environment
While a detective in July 2024, Heyungs filed a complaint about the work environment in the Criminal Investigations Division (CID).
“I watched detectives spend an entire day talking rather than working on any investigations. A lot of horseplay going on, just juvenile actions,” Heyungs alleged in an interview with WKU Public Radio. “I’m on the phone conducting interviews and I have a detective taking off clothes and showing himself intentionally.”
Following the complaint, Sheriff Hightower sent a climate survey to the entire force soliciting feedback on the work environment. Then-Det. Heyungs responded to the survey the next day, alleging harassment, intimidation, bullying and offensive language.
Wiles testified the sheriff met with each detective and sent out a document outlining office expectations and etiquette.
“One of the other CID members was changing his clothes to go to the gym,” Hightower acknowledged to WKU Public Radio. “I served in the military. We showered together, used the bathroom together. After that, he (CID member) was talked to and told never to do it again. If he (Heyungs) had asked that person not to do it, they said they wouldn't have done it. They just didn’t realize it was an issue.”
At his termination hearing, Heyungs testified that nothing changed within the CID after the sheriff intervened.
Despite filing the complaint and alleging retaliation, Heyungs received a promotion to sergeant in January 2025.
Heyungs’ job performance is questioned
Internal documents from the Warren County Sheriff’s Office suggest then-Sgt. Heyungs committed several infractions of department policy a month into his new role as sergeant.
Those violations included failing to secure the scene of a homicide and not communicating on his police radio while in pursuit of a suspect.
“I can only suppose that when he was promoted to sergeant, the job itself was more than his capabilities could handle,” Chief Deputy Kevin Wiles testified.
While on patrol in May 2025, then-Sgt. Heyungs stopped to investigate a yard sale. Heyungs testified at his termination hearing that he was suspicious of the large quantities of household products on display.
“The city has a big problem with shoplifting,” explained Heyungs.
A man at the home used his cell phone to record his exchange with Heyungs as they stood on the front porch. Heyungs detained the man, who refused to identify himself until the man’s girlfriend arrived at the house with more products, then produced the receipts and told Heyungs she was a couponer.
Though no one was charged, Chief Deputy Wiles testified that Heyungs violated the man’s constitutional rights by remaining on the property without his consent or a warrant.
“When the gentleman said, ‘Get off my property, he (Heyungs) should have left the property, period,’” explained Wiles.
Wiles said the sheriff’s office experienced “turmoil” after the man posted video of his exchange with Heyungs on social media, including hundreds of angry calls and emails from across the nation as an example of police abuse of authority.
“It was quite the spectacle,” Wiles said.
Heyungs was demoted back to deputy in October of last year. In December, Heyungs was accused a second time of violating a citizen’s 4th Amendment protections against unreasonable searches and seizures.
According to police body camera footage, Heyungs pulled over a motorist for a minor traffic violation and discovered he had a criminal summons charging him with attempted video voyeurism. The defendant had allegedly placed a cell phone in a women’s restroom at Western Kentucky University and the case was being investigated by campus police.
Heyungs asked for the man’s cell phone and he consented. Heyungs testified that he had reasonable suspicion the phone had evidence, but he never searched it himself.
“I expected them (WKU Police) to attempt to get a search warrant for it,” Heyungs said.
Deputy Heyungs took the phone to WKU police and Chief Mitch Walker returned the phone that evening to its owner.
“There was not justification for the seizure of the phone based on very limited information in the criminal summons,” Wiles testified.
It was at that point that Chief Deputy Kevin Wiles recommended Heyungs’ termination.
“What was next, truly, was a big concern,” Wiles said.
Four days after the traffic stop, Sheriff Hightower met with Heyungs and suspended him without pay. During that meeting, the sheriff told Heyungs that he intended to fire him.
“My idea is to terminate you. You can either accept it, you can resign, or you can get a hearing.” Hightower said in a recording.
Heyungs told WKU Public Radio that he requested the hearing because he “didn’t do anything wrong.”
The sheriff is the arbiter
Later in the recording, Hightower asked Heyungs if he knew who the hearing authority was, by law.
“Is it you?,” asked Heyungs.
“It is me,” responded Hightower. “I’m the hiring and firing authority at this office.”
Warren County doesn’t have a merit system where an independent board evaluates disciplinary cases involving law enforcement, so Sheriff Hightower was the ruling authority for the hearing held Feb. 11-12.
“One of the concerns we had was that he had already told him he was going to be fired, so having the sheriff preside over it didn’t really seem proper,” said Heyungs’ attorney David Agnew. “Even if he really believed he could be impartial, it looks rigged. It shows terrible judgment that he did not recuse himself.”
Agnew went so far as to call the hearing a sham, but Kentucky law allows the sheriff to be judge and jury.
“Absent the merit board, it says the hiring authority is the one who sits and makes the determination, and in Warren County, that’s the sheriff,” explained Warren County Attorney Amy Chandler. “I understand the appearance and I understand the concerns. The problem is, we have to follow the statute. I’ve had several people say, ‘Why didn’t fiscal court hear it or why didn’t he appoint someone?’ Well, the statute doesn’t offer the ability to appoint someone and the fiscal court is not the hiring authority.”
For the city of Bowling Green, the police chief only makes recommendations and the city commission votes to hire and fire officers. If Heyungs had been in city law enforcement, his disciplinary case would have gone before the city commission.
The sheriff disputes claims of political retaliation
Three days prior to the traffic stop that led to his termination, Heyungs publicly announced plans to challenge Hightower for the Republican nomination for sheriff in Kentucky’s primary election in May.
“He decided the only way he was going to be able to improve conditions at the Warren County Sheriff’s Office was to run for sheriff himself,” said Heyung’s attorney David Agnew. “He announced his candidacy officially on Dec. 4 of last year. His first day back at work was the day he was suspended.”
“I knew the day he filed, on Nov. 14, because when you file for elected office, it is public record,” Hightower told WKU Public Radio. “So it had nothing to do with I heard he was running on the 4th and the 7th I suspended him. That’s ridiculousness.”
While Heyungs says his firing was political, Hightower would have been within the law to terminate Heyungs as soon as he filed for office. Courts have ruled that such actions constitute a lack of loyalty or insubordination.
“I thought it would be very little of myself to terminate somebody just on the basis of running, although there is law that clearly states you can, and there’s no appeal of that,” Hightower told WKU Public Radio.
Federal precedent was set in a 2008 case from Kentucky. The sheriff of Bullitt County fired a deputy who launched a bid to unseat him. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled that candidacy is not protected by the First Amendment. Warren County Attorney Amy Chandler says under the so-called “Viper in the Nest Doctrine,” a subordinate can speak out against their boss and not be terminated, but they can be let go for challenging their employer for their office.
“They said you are not required to nourish the viper in the nest, the one running against you, and so there is case law that says you can be terminated for filing against your boss, whether it’s a county clerk, county attorney, any elected position, if you file against your boss, you can be terminated,” explained Chandler.
“People were telling me I should (fire Heyungs). When someone in the same office is running against you, it can potentially create division and a distraction for the entire office, but I still chose not to,” Hightower said.
Instead, the sheriff invoked a state law known as the Police Officer Bill of Rights, which entitled Heyungs to a hearing before deciding if he should be fired based on job performance.
“Based on the totality of all the policy violations and writeups he had, at that point it becomes negligent retention,” Hightower said. “When you see a pattern of improper behavior and they do something else, the aggrieved person can look back and say, ‘Look at all these things they’ve done and you continued to maintain them as an employee.’”
Heyungs has been receiving unemployment benefits since his unpaid suspension in December. Under state law, claimants can receive unemployment benefits for being furloughed without pay as long as they’re not suspended for misconduct.
“I think that’s an important point to make, that the Office of Unemployment Insurance took a look at the facts of the case and determined he was not terminated for cause based on their investigation,” said Agnew, Heyungs’ attorney.
The sheriff’s office is now appealing the agency’s ruling that Heyungs was not fired “for cause.” A hearing on the matter is scheduled for Mar. 25.
Heyungs continues his bid to unseat the sheriff
Now that Heyungs has been officially terminated, he plans to file an appeal with Warren Circuit Court. His attorney declined to comment when asked about possible litigation.
“At this point, I think we’ll say, ‘no comment,’” Agnew responded.
What is certain, Heyungs intends to stay in the race for Warren County Sheriff.
“This changes nothing,” Heyungs said. “It’s hostile across the board.”
Sheriff Hightower was first elected in 2018 and is confident in his chance for reelection.
“We have not one unsolved homicide since I took office,” he said. “I’ve got a team of professionals that know their job and work well. At the end of the day, we run the best sheriff’s office anywhere.”
This story was produced by the Appalachia + Mid-South Newsroom, a collaboration between West Virginia Public Broadcasting, WPLN and WUOT in Tennessee, LPM, WEKU, WKMS and WKU Public Radio in Kentucky, and NPR. Sign up for the weekly Porch light newsletter here for news from around the region.
