GREENSBORO
Allen Wallace, the police sergeant suspended last December after being accused of participating in a sexual assault on another officer, has been reinstated but at a lower rank.
The police department notified Wallace on Monday he would be returning to work, said Bill Hill, the Greensboro Police Officers Association attorney who represented Wallace at his departmental hearing.
Wallace will be demoted from sergeant to senior police officer, and will return to work today, according to the city.
"He looks forward to serving the people of Greensboro as he has done for almost 20 years," Hill said.
Wallace is the last accused officer to have outstanding issues in the case that is almost a year old.
Wallace, officer J.O. LeGrand and officer C.S. Stevens were all investigated for their involvement in the December incident but were not charged with any crime.
In July, police Chief Tim Bellamy recommended terminating Wallace and LeGrand as a result of an internal investigation by the police department's professional standards division.
Both appealed the decision and requested a hearing. Wallace's hearing was held last week, Hill said.
LeGrand resigned from the police department in September to take a job with the Rockingham Police Department.
Stevens was disciplined and returned to duty in July. City and police officials declined to comment on Stevens' discipline, citing personnel privacy laws.
When an officer faces termination, he or she is allowed a hearing before a six-member general board of inquiry, The police chief is chairman.
The decision of the police chief after the hearing is binding.
If an officer is not satisfied with the decision, it can be appealed to the city manager.
The three officers were put on paid administrative leave Dec. 18 when the department announced a criminal and administrative investigation into a sexual assault reported by a female police officer. The female officer said she was sexually assaulted while in a vehicle with the three men the previous weekend.
Wallace and LeGrand were suspended - without pay - after their termination was recommended in July.
The three suspended officers were members of the department's tactical special enforcement team last December, when the assault was reported. The team then worked on suppressing street-level drug sales. Now that function is performed by a tactical narcotics team in the vice/narcotics division.
Wallace was transferred to the central patrol bureau in October. Stevens also now works in the central patrol bureau.
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