By Tony Holt
The News-Journal
VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. — Local paramedic Amy Sherlock had acquired nude photos of co-workers and planned to use them as “insurance” in case she ever needed to “blackmail” someone to get out of trouble, according to documents released by Volusia County.
Sherlock, nearly a 10-year veteran of EVAC, submitted her resignation earlier this month after the allegations came to light.
Supervisors were made aware of Sherlock’s ownership of the photos during a recorded exit interview of one of her co-workers, Chip Maher.
Prior to his Sept. 28 interview, Maher requested that a human resources representative accompany him because he had “information relating to employee misconduct,” according to an incident report.
The report stated that Maher told his supervisor and the human resources representative during the interview that Sherlock owned a collection of nude photos of female EVAC co-workers and he knew so because she showed him at least two of the images. He told his supervisor that Sherlock traded nude photos with other county employees and she planned to use the photos for blackmail if necessary.
Sherlock had three copies of all the photos of her two co-workers: one on her phone, one on her personal computer and another on an external hard drive, according to the report.
Another of Sherlock’s male co-workers was interviewed about the photos and he said Sherlock told him that she trades provocative “selfies” with other people, officials said. Sherlock also asked the male co-worker whether he had any nude photos of employees that he would want to trade, the report stated.
Sherlock was interviewed Oct. 15, at which time she admitted to previously having a collection of nude pictures of co-workers, officials said. She told supervisors that former male Emergency Medical Services employees would swap nude photos of female employees they had slept with. They did so, she said, because they were competing against one another, according to the report.
Sherlock also said during her interview that she deleted the nude photos in May 2017 when she found out she was pregnant. She also denied showing any nude photos of her co-workers at any point after May 2017, but two male co-workers who were interviewed, including Maher, said Sherlock had offered to show them the nude photos during the summer of 2018, the report stated.
There were other disparities between Sherlock’s story and Maher’s story. Sherlock said during a subsequent interview that Maher had invited her to his home to use his hot tub while his wife was away. Maher, meanwhile, said he never made such an offer and added that he doesn’t own a hot tub, according to the report.
On Dec. 4, while Sherlock was on administrative leave with pay, she submitted her resignation, effective after two weeks, to Department of Public Protection Interim Director Joseph Pozzo. The interim director accepted her resignation and waived the two-weeks notice.
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