A longtime Millington police officer was fired by the city after being charged with theft linked to work, according to the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury on Aug. 7.
Millington’s police detective lieutenant Bryan Childress was arrested Thursday after being indicted by the Shelby County grand jury on one count of theft of property over $2,500 and one count of official misconduct.
An investigation by the state’s Comptroller’s Office found that Childress was “double dipping” on work hours after he received $2,971.89 in unearned wages and benefits by claiming to work for the police department, while also working private security jobs.
“Public employees are expected to accurately report
the hours they work and follow policies governing outside employment,” Jason Mumpower said. “Departments should have procedures in place to verify employee time and ensure outside employment does not conflict with official duties.”
Gary Graves, public safety director for the City of Millington, stated in a news release the city is well aware of the situation surrounding Childress, who has been relieved of his duties.
"The City of Millington has received the Tennessee Comptroller's investigative report regarding former Millington Police Officer Bryan Childress,” Graves said. “Following our review of the report, Mr. Childress has been terminated from his employment with the City, effective immediately, moving from unpaid suspension to termination. The POST Commission has been notified regarding Mr. Childress’ termination and arrest.”
The investigation on Childress started after a Millington city official reported questionable time reporting practices involving Childress. Investigators did a comparison of Childress’ department timesheets from January 2023 through December 2025 with records from Protos Off Duty Services (ODS), a company that coordinates off-duty security work for law enforcement officers.
The probe uncovered that Childress reported working for both employers during the same hours on 59 different days. The overlapping totaled 66 hours.
Childress acknowledged that he worked off duty security jobs through ODS and several other companies. He also said he never obtained the required approval for his outside employment and understood that ODS assignments were to be worked only while he was off duty from the police department, the comptroller report said.
In December 2025, Childress was placed on paid administrative leave pending the results of the Comptroller's investigation. Childress was initially hired as a police officer by the Millington police in April 2000 and later resigned in March 2007.
After leaving the Millington police, Childress was employed by the Tipton County Sheriff’s Office until his employment was terminated in June 2012, following misconduct. He was later rehired by Millington police in February 2013, and he resigned a year later. However, the Millington police hired Childress again full time on April 2016.
He was promoted to police sergeant in January 2018, and began serving as the department’s General Department Instructor (GDI) on October 2018. In October 2022, Childress was promoted to lieutenant over the criminal investigation division. However, this past April, Millington police suspended Childress without pay for failing to properly perform his assigned GDI duties.
Graves stated that the criminal proceedings involving Childress are separate from the City’s administrative process.
“As with any criminal case, Mr. Childress is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law, and the City will continue to cooperate fully with our law enforcement partners as the judicial process moves forward,” Graves said.
The comptroller’s investigative report also found Millington’s police chief failed to provide adequate supervisory oversight to the department. Investigators determined that the police chief failed to enforce and monitor controls over employee timekeeping and secondary employment. Specifically, the department did not have procedures to verify officers’ presence during scheduled work hours or to reconcile outside employment for conflicts with scheduled duty hours.
The report stated establishing adequate internal controls related to timekeeping and secondary employment improves accountability and reduces the risk of fraud and abuse
City of Millington officials indicated that they have corrected or intend to correct the deficiency.
"We also appreciate the Comptroller's recommendations regarding enhanced internal controls," Graves said. "Thanks in large part to the guidance of our partners, the Millington Police Department has already implemented strengthened procedures, including two additional independent levels of review for officer training and training record maintenance. The Department has also strengthened its oversight of employee training, timekeeping, and outside employment to further improve accountability and reduce the risk of similar issues in the future."
Corey Davis is the Collierville and Germantown reporter with The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached at Corey.Davis@commercialappeal.com or 901-293-1610.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Millington police officer charged on theft, chief cited for lack of oversight
