A Petersburg police officer hired last June was let go this month after a borough investigation into his posts to a Facebook page promoting white male supremacy, anti-government rhetoric and anti-Semitism.
The Facebook page also expressed support for Ted Kaczynski, known as the Unabomber, who mailed explosives that killed and injured people in the U.S. in the late 1970s through early 1990s.
Johnny Duane Pickle, using the account name J.D. Pickle, also posted a Facebook comment with a picture of a child who appears to be his son performing a Nazi salute and wearing a mustache made of black tape resembling that of Adolf Hitler’s and a caption which read: “Just showed this to my son. He said that would be his dream come true. Got to raise them riech.” Nazi Germany was known as the Third Reich.
Pickle posted his son’s picture and the caption as a comment on a Facebook post that showed an outline of Alaska on top of a map of Europe with the caption, “The Old Homeland vs the New.”
The borough conducted its investigation after receiving a complaint, according to Borough Clerk Debbie Thompson. Pickle’s comment was found by a Facebook user from out of state who discovered that he had listed his employer on Facebook as the Petersburg Police Department.
The Facebook user took screenshots of Pickle’s comment and on Dec. 12 posted those screenshots to a Petersburg Police Department Facebook post.
The screenshots were seen by the borough and later deleted. Pickle’s initial comment has since been deleted.
Pickle confirmed that his employment with the borough was terminated on Jan. 3.
He had been placed on temporary administrative leave during the borough investigation last month. “I had no idea until I got back here that it was an issue.”
Pickle said he saw his post as a joke, and at the time did not give it a second thought. “There was nothing, no evil will behind it. … It wasn’t meant to be interpreted the way it was.”
“I’m 43 and never in my whole life have I ever been called a racist or anti-Semitic and I don’t hold those values,” he said. “Being a police officer, you try to see the good in people. Everybody’s got bad and everybody’s got good.”
He added, “I hate that it’s come to this. I’ve come 3,400 miles to lose a job. That’s what sucks. … I’m regretful for doing it because of the consequences from it.”
Pickle later wrote to the newspaper: “We’re staying, my boy loves the school and has made many friends. My wife really likes her job and has made friends also. I have a couple jobs in the works.”
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