CHARLOTTESVILLE (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) — An school resource officer and sheriff’s deputy was relieved of his duties on Monday following an incident at William Monroe High School, the Greene County Sheriff’s Office announced on Wednesday afternoon.

In a statement, the office said it had received a report of “unprofessional behavior” involving Eli Hounsel at the high school. After a thorough investigation by the office, it was concluded that no criminal acts were committed and it was an isolated incident. Still, due to the incident, Hounsel is no longer employed by the department as of Monday.

Cville Right Now had previously reached out to the Greene County Sheriff’s Office on Monday to confirm that Hounsel was no longer an SRO at WMHS, and that the behavior in question involved a student, as had been previously reported. The office did not respond prior to its press release on Wednesday.

Cville Right Now also reached out to Hounsel for comment on Thursday but he did not immediately respond.

Hounsel had previously been fired with cause from the Charlottesville Police Department in Feb. 2023 following an internal investigation, police chief Michael Kochis, who joined CPD in January of that year, told Cville Right Now.
Kochis said he could not go into details as to why he was fired from CPD, but added later he wasn’t surprised when he saw he was terminated from the Greene County Sheriff’s Office.
However, he was not aware prior to hearing the news that Hounsel was at Greene County’s Sheriff’s Office, and said he was also not aware if the office had contacted CPD prior to hiring Hounsel. By state code, Greene County would’ve had to contact CPD prior to hiring Hounsel since he has been fired with cause, although Kochis said those matters are handled by others within the department.
“They may have, they may not have, I don’t know,” he said. “By code, by state code, they have to.”
While he was let go, Hounsel was not decertified as that code would not have applied to his termination. Per Virginia Code, any law enforcement or jail officer  convicted of a felony or class 1 misdemeanor involving moral turpitude, sex offenses, domestic assault, failure to comply with or maintain compliance with mandated training requirements or failure to submit or pass a drug screening without a valid explanation is required to be decertified.
According to court documents, Hounsel was charged with a misdemeanor on a separate occasion while with CPD for the unauthorized use of an electronic tracking device in April 2022, but those charges were dismissed in June of the next year after a deferred disposition. Kochis, who was not with CPD when the charges first occurred, said he didn’t know anything about that particular case.