Hernando police officer charged with sexual battery, rape

Photo: DeSoto County District Attorney announces charges against no-former Hernando Police officer Hosie Porter during a Monday noon news conference. (Bob Bakken/desotocountynews.com)

A now-former Hernando police officer is being held in the DeSoto County Adult Detention Center charged with two counts of sexual battery and one count of rape. 

DeSoto County District Attorney Matthew Barton announced the charges against Hosie Porter, age 52 of Horn Lake, during a Monday noon news conference. 

A news release from the Hernando Police Department, released after the news conference, confirmed an allegation was made on Tuesday, Sept. 24 against an officer for an assault that took place while the officer was on duty. 

Information on the allegation was passed on to the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, or MBI, which looked into the matter.  

“Whenever an officer is being investigated, it is important there is a non-interested entity, so MBI was properly notified and they took the lead on it,” Barton said. “That was my request and the City rightfully joined in on that.”  

The officer was placed on administrative leave, Monday resigned from his position and was subsequently arrested and booked into the DeSoto County jail.  

Hernando Police did not identify the officer, but Barton released Porter’s name during the news conference as the man charged in the matter. 

The district attorney indicated Porter’s last assignment was that of a school resource officer, but Barton would not identify what school Porter was assigned to.

The District Attorney also stressed the complaint was made by an adult and no children were victimized or harmed. There was also no indication of where the alleged incident took place.  

Barton said the typical process in a matter like this is to have the case go to a grand jury, which will review it and determine the final formal charges and decide whether the case can proceed. 

At that point, Porter can determine whether he wants to go to trial or plead guilty.  

“It’s important to us that we be transparent, that we understand in this situation, so we’re sharing the information we can,” Barton said. “As I stated, we are pretty limited at this point.”  

Hernando Mayor Chip Johnson later penned an open letter to the city about the arrest.