Security company closes after employee charged with rape www.privateofficer.com
By: Rick McCann/Staff
PRIVATE OFFICER NEWS
http://www.privateofficer.com/ The security company that employed a security g
uard who is accused of raping a shoplifter has closed down.“We relied on the fact that he had an active license from the state of Tennessee to be a guard,” said Akins, who said he found out about the previous charge when news of the current arrest broke. “It shut me down. I have no business.”
Hill was charged with rape after detaining a woman on shoplifting charges at the Poplar Plaza Kroger.
According to police, Hill “forcefully propositioned” her for sexual favors, including putting his hand down her pants.
Authorities were alerted the next day, leading to Hill’s arrest.
Akins also said that he was unaware that state officials attempted to revoke Hill’s license in February 2009 after his plea of guilty in a statutory rape case.
That process led to a November hearing, but state officials have yet to rule on the revocation of Hill’s license.
Akins said he was relying on the fact that Hill’s license was renewed in 2005, 2007 and 2009.
Legislation has been introduced that would make it easier to revoke the licenses of guards convicted of serious crimes, said Christopher Garrett, spokesman for the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance, which oversees security companies.
If the new legislation is approved, officials can automatically revoke a license after conviction of a serious crime, unless a hearing is requested within 30 days of conviction.
That bill is under consideration in the state House and Senate.
Akins, who is now unemployed himself said that he doesn’t know what he’ll do to support his family and blames this whole event and the closing of his company on Hill.
