A captain at the Plano, Texas Fire-Rescue Department was recently suspended and demoted after being arrested and charged for exposing his genitals to a fast-food worker, according to official documents from the City of Plano, acquired via a public records request. This is the second suspension the captain has faced in two years and the first stemming from a criminal charge.
According to official documents, including suspension files and police reports, an employee at a Chicken Express in Commerce, Texas, filed a police report on June 8, 2021, stating that then-Captain Aaron Deary exposed his genitals while “playing with himself” as he was ordering food in their drive-through.
Copies of the receipts from the transaction at Chicken Express show Aaron Deary’s name as the cardholder. Deary did not respond to The Daily Beast’s requests for comment.
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Police records show that Deary was charged with indecent exposure on June 8 and a warrant was issued for his arrest on July 19. On July 27, Deary wrote via email to a member of the Professional Standards Office of the Plano Police Department providing an explanation for the indecent exposure charge and offering to surrender himself.
“On June 8, 2021, I decided to go to the grocery store to get groceries,” Deary wrote. “After getting my groceries to my pick-up I realized that I needed to urinate. So instead of going back into the store I unwisely decided to pee in an empty water bottle. I ended up spilling the water bottle full of pee all over my shorts and seat. So I took off my shorts and underwear because they were soaked.”
Deary went on to say he tried to cover himself with a towel and reasoned that since he had on a shirt and drove a “¾ ton, 4X4 truck” that no one would be able to see he was naked from the waist down. “Turns out I was wrong,” Deary wrote.
“I reached to grab his card so he could pay for his order and I turned around to cash him out and I gave him back his card and he had his penis out,” a signed affidavit from the complainant said. “He was alone, didn’t speak, just looked at me. I gave him his card and food and he drove off. I told my manager about what he did and he had like a gold penis ring on his penis.”
The official suspension report notes that the police investigation summary contained information “concerning the ‘cock ring’ described [in the victim’s] statement to the police.” However, the alluded to information was entirely redacted, citing two Texas state codes exempting disclosures relating to “ongoing criminal investigations” and “highly intimate or embarrassing” details.
“The redacted portions of the records release are concerning the open investigation in Commerce, Texas,” wrote a City of Plano press representative. “Any further comment or information provided about that will have to be obtained by going through their records request process.”
An email sent to the contact email listed for the Commerce Police Department on the official city website bounced back. When called, a representative from the Commerce Police Department said to call back on Monday during business hours and ask for the chief. The Plano Police Department did not respond to requests for comment.
It wasn’t until Sept. 10, 2021, that a decision was made to suspend Captain Deary for 90 days and impose a voluntary demotion due to the “egregious nature” of his conduct. The suspension report notes that Deary’s response to the allegations “does not address the accusation of sexual gratification” and concludes that “by exposing himself to the Chicken Express employee…and failing to be forthright in his statements concerning the incident, Deary was discourteous to the public, engaged in conduct prejudicial to good order and not in compliance with the Fire-Rescue Conduct Standard.”
This wasn’t the first time Deary had been suspended for misconduct. On June 6, 2019, he was suspended for six shifts or 144 working hours for failing to correct a firefighter whose communication was deemed “non-empathetic, rude or not exhibiting the Plano way of care.” The report notes three separate calls in which a fellow firefighter refused to take a patient to the hospital, and sanctioned Deary for failing to correct his behavior and shirking his duties.
This is the second suspension of a Plano fire captain in the past four months that has made headlines. In September, the fire department suspended Captain Richie Floyd for 24 hours after he asked a paramedic for help getting a fraudulent vaccination card for his unvaccinated wife so she could fly to New York City for a vacation, where proof of vaccination is required for indoor dining and other entertainment. The federal Department of Health and Human Services has specifically warned that distributing blank vaccine cards is illegal. The Plano fire department considers Floyd’s case closed, and he has been allowed to return to work.
Deary’s latest suspension stemming from the indecent exposure charge ended as of Saturday. When asked whether Deary would be returning to work, the City of Plano said Deary would return to work on Dec. 14.
“Deary was taken off shift and assigned to Fire Administration while an internal investigation was conducted by Plano Police Department’s Office of Professional Standards,” wrote a City of Plano press representative. “Upon completion of the investigation, and with consideration of Deary’s statement letter to the City of Plano Firefighters’ and Police Officers’ Civil Service Commission, there was an agreed suspension of 90 days with no pay and demotion of two ranks.”
