NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) – There were stunning new revelations in court Friday. News 2 learned former 3 Doors Down bassist, Robert “Todd” Harrell reportedly had an affair with his probation officer and now she is facing charges.
Harrell received a five-year sentence for vehicular homicide and other drug-related charges on Friday.
According to the TBI, this “Electronic Monitoring Officer” with the Davidson County Court System was helping Harrell violate the terms of his probation instead of keeping him in check.
Altavease McCluskey, 32, has been fired and charged with official misconduct.
“She was in charge of me and I was doing what she told me to do,” Harrell said on the stand.
According to the TBI the two had an affair, saying McCluskey let him take off his monitoring device and traveled with him all while he was supposed to be on house arrest.
Harrell read a statement in court reading in part, “In august 2014 Altavease took my ankle bracelet off so that we could go to South Carolina.”
The TBI said McCluskey also got an apartment for Harrell in Sumner County. “She had me cleaning her car, walking her dogs, stuff like that. She has never told me she would violate me but I was always under the impression that if I didn’t do it she said that I would be violated,” he said while reading the statement.
“To a small degree I can understand Mr. Harrell saying that he felt like he had to do what he was going to do or she would violate him. I don’t know how much faith I could really put into that first of all I don’t think Ms. McCluskey was going to come in here and violate him and have a chance that she would be exposed for what she was doing,” Criminal Court Judge Mark Fishburn said. “Secondly, I would think that Mr. Harrell is educated enough and has enough common sense to know that the court has more authority than Ms. McCluskey and the courts order was for him to stay where he was told to stay.”
Fishburn went on to say he gives Harrell slight benefit of the doubt, since McCluskey was working for the criminal courts of Davidson County at the time.
News 2 asked Tim Townsend, the trial court administrator how this could happen. He said McCluskey passed a background check. “She was suspended the morning that I was apprised of the situation and fired a few weeks later when we got more information,” said Townsend.
McCluskey was reportedly responsible for about 35 offenders and there were never any other problems.
Townsend said he made a big change hiring a private company, Tennessee Recovery and Monitoring, to provide more officers and so far, it has been effective.
“Fiscally we can’t afford to hire 5-6 officers to monitor 30-35 offenders. A private company has more resources,” sad Townsend. He added that there really is no way to ensure an officer won’t do something wrong.
Harrell originally pleaded guilty Dec. 11 to charges connected to a crash that killed Paul Shoulders Jr. in 2013.
The accident happened on Interstate 40 West in April 2013. At the time, authorities said Harrell was traveling at a high rate of speed when his 2011 Cadillac CTS clipped Shoulders’ Ford F-150 pickup truck.
Shoulders, who was not wearing a seatbelt, was ejected from his truck and was pronounced dead at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
Harrell entered treatment at a rehab facility following the deadly crash in 2013.
He will begin his prison time later this month. Harrell must serve 30 percent, or around two years, of the five-year sentence. He will also be on probation for six years after he serves his jail time.