SUNBURY -- People in Sunbury are reacting to the firing of a 20-year veteran of the city's police department.
Sunbury's mayor fired Officer Jamie Quinn during Monday night's council meeting.
Officer Quinn had been suspended from the Sunbury Police Department since December. She faces a charge of tampering with evidence after state police say there was a sexually explicit image found on her work cell phone.
Quinn was an officer and at times a corporal with the Sunbury Police Department for more than 20 years, but as of Monday night, she is no longer on the force. After an internal investigation done by Sunbury's police chief, Mayor David Persing fired Quinn.
"Six, seven months she's been sitting at home getting paid with our tax dollars. What was investigated was internal stuff, a lot of people can't separate that. This was based on internal issues in the city of Sunbury," said Mayor Persing.
Quinn faces charges of tampering with evidence and theft of services after state police say students at Line Mountain High School passed around a cell phone with a sexually explicit image on it. Troopers say the cell phone was Quinn's work-issued phone and Quinn told the teenager to delete the image and not tell anyone about it.
The court case is ongoing. A felony charge against Quinn was recently dropped.
Some Sunbury residents tell Newswatch 16 they wish the city would have at least waited until the court case was over.
"That was really unexpected. I think they were a little drastic for firing her. Maybe a warning or something, but straight up firing her, that's a little drastic I think," Tanisha Guzman said.
"I think they fired her too soon," said Tiffanie Bardole. "I think they should have just waited until after the trial and everything was over with to fire her or what ever they were going to do with her."
Mayor Persing tells Newswatch 16 he will replace Quinn, but it could be a while.
"We're only probably a month away from next year's budget. We might just hold off and put money in the budget and do it next year," the mayor said.
Quinn's case continues to make its way through the judicial system. The felony charge against her was dropped but Quinn faces two misdemeanor charges.