Two Suffolk cops investigated
Published 9:14 pm Monday, December 8, 2014
Note: A reporting error in this story has been corrected. Attorney Randolph Raines said the dismissed protective order was against his client, Tiffany Valentine, not Nicholas Thompson.
Following a woman’s allegations against two Suffolk police officers — one of them her own husband — both officers face criminal charges and an Internal Affairs investigation.
In a sworn affidavit filed in support of an arrest warrant, Ida Thompson of Suffolk alleges she was assaulted and threatened separately by both officers after accusing them of having an affair.
The Suffolk Police Department has opened an Internal Affairs investigation of both officers in relation to the charges against them.
Officer Tiffany Valentine, 29, charged with assault, is scheduled for arraignment in Chesapeake General District Court on Wednesday.
According to an arrest warrant affidavit, Ida Thompson told police Valentine had assaulted and threatened her in Chesapeake on Nov. 12.
Ida Thompson alleges the incident occurred when she confronted Valentine with alleged evidence of an affair Valentine was having with her husband, Officer Nicholas Thompson.
Ida Thompson alleges in affidavits that Valentine, while in uniform, assaulted her and threatened to “slice my throat and kill me, while placing her hand over her duty-belt area,” according to the affidavit.
Thompson also alleges that Valentine later again accused her of “getting in her face, and proceeded to threaten to kill me again.”
Valentine’s attorney, Randolph Raines, said, “The allegations are baseless, and we have audio evidence that corroborates our position.”
A spokeswoman for Chesapeake Commonwealth’s Attorney Nancy G. Parr, whose office is prosecuting the case, said the pending matter could not be discussed.
Officer Nicholas Thompson, 34, is charged in Suffolk with brandishing a firearm and assault and battery of a family or household member.
In a sworn statement filed with Suffolk Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court, Ida Thompson alleged her husband had brandished his service weapon, pointing it at her temple while threatening to shoot, after the two were “engaged in an altercation” on Sept. 27.
Then during another altercation on Nov. 9, “which resulted in my emotional deterioration,” Thompson alleges her husband physically assaulted her.
A hearing to inform the court of Nicholas Thompson’s counsel and set a date for adjudication is scheduled for Tuesday.
Raines said the extension of an emergency protective order obtained by Ida Thompson against his client was dismissed after an agreement between the parties.
James Wiser, a deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney in Suffolk, said his office couldn’t comment on a matter before the court. Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Meredith Travers, who is handling the case against Nicholas Thompson, was unavailable for comment.
Nicholas Thompson was not at the house listed in the search warrant on Friday or Monday, and other means of communication with him were unsuccessful on Monday.
According to a search warrant filed in Suffolk Circuit Court, Suffolk Police seized Nicholas Thompson’s department-issued Beretta PX-4 Storm pistol on Nov. 30.
In accordance with city policy, both police officers were placed on paid administrative leave — Officer Thompson from Nov. 30 to Dec. 1 and Officer Valentine from Nov. 14 to Nov. 18 — “so that the city could determine if a change in employment status was necessitated by the charges,” Suffolk spokeswoman Diana Klink stated.
No criminal investigation of Valentine is underway in Suffolk, according to Klink, and the officer is currently working on an administrative assignment within the Police Department.
“The Police Department is, however, conducting an Internal Affairs investigation on both Valentine and Thompson relative to their criminal charges,” Klink added.
She also stated that the city agreed to let Officer Thompson take annual leave from Dec. 2 to Dec. 9, the date of his first scheduled hearing.
According to Klink, Valentine was sworn in as a Suffolk police officer on July 10, 2013, and Nicholas Thompson was sworn in July 3, 2008.