The Phoenix New Times recently ran a story involving two police officers who were fired as part of an earlier vendetta involving their boss. Former Florence Police Chief Bob Ingulli and Lieutenant Terry Tryon had been feuding for years. When Ingulli was let go, his replacement, Dan Hughes zeroed in on two cops who Tryon wanted to get rid of. Walt Hunter and Jarris Varnrobinson are Bernabei & Kabat clients who had filed complaints against Tryon for giving away evidence in cases they had worked on and were favorites of Ingulli before being targeted by Hughes and Tryon for dismissal. Hughes drudged up allegations of a rape case being mishandled by the officers in an attempt to fire them. The case had been settled, as the officers had followed protocol, and was irrelevant to the firing of the officers, as confirmed by a judge at the appeals of their dismissals. “It’s shameless how [those] who fired our clients are so desperate to discredit them that they’re willing to repeat allegations that already have been disproved at a hearing,” says Lynne Bernabei in the New Times article. Hughes was forced to rehire Hunter but Varnrobinson still has yet to be reinstated. Florence Exposed, a three-part series on the Florence Police Department, including Hunter and Varnrobinson can be found here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.
