New details have emerged in the case of a former Dothan Police Department records employee charged with illegally accessing criminal records.

The City of Dothan Personnel Board met Wednesday to hold an appeal hearing for Sherri Lynn Carroll, who was fired after police say she looked up seven people’s records for personal reasons.

At Wednesday’s hearing, several witnesses testified about the details of Carroll’s case.

According to state investigator Robert Stewart, Carroll accessed the Law Enforcement Tactical System, a central source of data for law enforcement and criminal justice agencies, for “reasons other than law enforcement purposes” seven times in 2007.

Assistant city attorney Kevan Kelly played a taped statement from Carroll to Stewart in which Carroll admits to the offenses, though she gives reasons for some of them.

In the taped statement, Carroll, who did not testify Wednesday, admitted to accessing the records for each of the seven names she has been accused of searching -- Laura Johnston Clark, Colbert Clark, Gene Oden, Gerald Gene Morris, Christina Jo Lloyd, Tracy Nichole Munson and Stephen Lynn Munson.

The first four names are associated with LJC Defense Contracting, a company against which Carroll’s husband, David, has an active civil lawsuit.

However, in her statement, Carroll claimed she researched the names to follow up on a case for Investigator Brian Guegan, who was a compliance officer at the time.

Guegan claimed Wednesday to have only requested for her to find the records for Oden.

Carroll told Stewart she researched Lloyd’s records because it was brought to her attention that she was a felon, and a corporal in the department had been dating her, which is a violation of city policy.

In fact, that situation is what led to administrators discovering Carroll’s alleged wrongdoings.

“If she had never gone to her supervisor with this information, (internal affairs) would have never known,” said Billy Joe Sheffield II, Carroll’s attorney.

Carroll’s direct supervisor, Adrian Woodruff, agreed.

“It was definitely a departmental issue,” Woodruff said. “I took (Carroll’s complaint) to (then-internal affairs officer) John Brackin, and only then did I realize anything was wrong.”

Kelly also brought up an instance of Carroll using LETS to find information on her son-in-law.

“My son-in-law and daughter are estranged from us, and I wanted to send a card to establish a relationship with my granddaughter,” Carroll said in her statement to Stewart.

“You realize that’s an improper use of LETS,” Stewart asked her on the tape.

“Yes. And I was wrong for that,” she replied.

Stewart said the Munsons had published inflammatory information about Carroll on MySpace, and Carroll said that was her motivation for looking them up.

“The bottom line, these people ticked you off, probably rightfully so after what they said, and you looked them up to show that they shouldn’t be casting stones,” Stewart said.

“Yes, but I haven’t used that information publicly,” Carroll replied.

According to Lt. Ray Owens of professional services, which entails internal affairs, Carroll violated four state statutes and one federal statute by accessing LETS information for personal reasons.

According to Police Chief John Powell, her termination from the department was the only logical conclusion.

“I believe it was an intolerable offense,” Powell said.

According to board chair Mary Davis, the board will not make a decision about Carroll’s appeal of her termination for quite some time.

“We will get the transcript back, which sometimes takes several weeks. We will read it, which will take maybe a week, then try to set up a date that’s good for everybody,” she said. “Our next meeting is the second Monday of April, and I’m certain we won’t have it by then.”