Haymarket Police Chief Wants to End 'Soap Opera'

"That's no way to live," he said. "You're living like a parasite. You're being micromanaged to death."

In his letter to the public, he wrote that he has allowed the drama to disrupt his life and the loves of the officers. He said that during the days that his former employees and a council member were calling him a liar and saying they hated him, he had to deal with his daughter being diagnosed with a "rare terminal illness," his wife's multiple sclerosis and the funerals of two in-laws and a friend.

"They have tarnished my name as well as my sergeant's name and made Haymarket and this department the joke of the community," he wrote. "These same men are currently planning to run for your Town's Council as well as position of mayor."

That is where politics comes in. In the May 2 election, Benjamin is running for mayor. His wife, Vicki, and a recently fired officer, Robert A. Hoffman Jr., are running for council seats. The council recently voted to fire Hoffman, who had prompted the sexual harassment case against Roop and who was charged in December with standing guard at an illegal poker game in Fairfax County.

Roop said he fears for the future of the department depending on the election results. The political overtones are evident in his letter.

"THE TIME HAS COME to decide where your priorities and loyalties lie," he wrote.

Roop, who has 30 years of law enforcement experience, threatened to submit his letter of resignation at a Monday board meeting, but the council didn't accepted it. Several residents spoke in support of him.

On the back of the letter, Roop lists his cell phone number, a fact that he proudly points out. "Everyone in town has my card," he said.

In old Paul Harvey fashion, he said there were a few things he wanted to clear up. To claims that he works only two days a week, he said that's true and that he's using up his accumulated comp time.

To claims that he put in for overtime when his job title prohibits it, he said it is allowed because he was spending more than 20 percent of his time as a police officer, not an administrator. But, he added, "Here's the deal. Don't pay me. I don't care."

To claims that the auxiliary officers wrote more tickets than him, he said, "I only hope they've given that many breaks as well."

"You have to know when to give a break and when to not," he said.

Finally, to the claim that Breeden used an ax to beat down his estranged wife's door, Roop said it was a hammer. And it was not the front door, he added, it was the garage.

Roop ended his letter asking Haymarket residents to support and forgive him.

"The personal attacks on me have caused me to loose [sic] focus on the importance of my role in this community, and for that, I am sorry," he wrote. "I will no longer allow this to happen."