A veteran Murfreesboro Police Department detective is facing 17 criminal charges after a Rutherford County grand jury indicted him this week over allegations that he misused confidential department funds and improperly accessed a criminal justice database. Detective Reginal D. Primas was booked into the Rutherford County Jail and held on a $25,000 bond following the indictment, which came down Tuesday.
According to WSMV, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation reported that Primas was indicted on one count of theft, one count of forgery, two counts of falsifying a government document and 13 counts of official misconduct. He is accused of using confidential Murfreesboro police funds for personal purchases and of accessing the state's criminal justice portal for purposes unrelated to his official duties, the outlet reported. Primas is set to face the charges in Rutherford County court.
How State Investigators Built the Case
The inquiry that led to the indictment began after 16th Judicial District Attorney General Jennings Jones requested that state authorities look into Primas's conduct, according to TBI Newsroom. TBI special agents and investigators with the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury jointly investigated the detective before the case went before a Rutherford County grand jury. Jones made a similar request for a TBI probe into local officials in May 2025, per the same agency's records.
Joint inquiries between the Comptroller's Division of Investigations, state prosecutors and the TBI are a routine part of how Tennessee audits police accounts and pursues unaccounted-for cash or missing confidential informant funds, according to the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury. Those audits often center on the internal controls municipalities place on drug and informant funds.
Felony Charges Carry Mandatory Removal From Office
Under Tennessee Code Annotated § 39-16-402, official misconduct is classified as a Class E felony when a public official misuses official authority or database access for personal benefit, according to the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School. A conviction under that statute triggers mandatory removal from public office under § 39-16-406, meaning the 13 misconduct counts alone carry consequences well beyond potential prison time.
A Once-Decorated Detective's Record
Primas has spent years working inside the department's Criminal Investigations Division. He was honored as a Crime Stoppers Officer of the Year during a 2015 banquet recognizing Rutherford County law enforcement personnel, per Main Street Media of Tennessee.
In June 2021, he served as a lead investigator on high-value retail theft cases involving thousands of dollars in stolen merchandise from local shopping centers, according to WGNS Radio. During that investigation, he directed members of the public with tips to his department phone line.
A Force of Hundreds Serving a Growing City
Murfreesboro is Tennessee's sixth-most populous city, with an estimated 173,625 residents in 2025, and serves as the seat of Rutherford County, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures. The Murfreesboro Police Department, led by Chief Michael Bowen since November 2017, maintains a sworn force of more than 269 officers and over 366 total employees, according to the City of Murfreesboro.
The department has faced outside scrutiny before. A veteran officer filed federal civil rights litigation in December 2019 alleging internal administrative hostility and workplace misconduct within the department, as reported by VICE.
Detectives' High-Tech Toolkit Now Under Its Own Scrutiny
Murfreesboro detectives typically rely on tools managed by the department's Real Time Crime Center, including surveillance feeds and license plate readers, to track property and financial crime suspects, Hoodline reported in an April report on a separate case. Hoodline also detailed command promotions within the department's investigative divisions last October. That same investigative apparatus is now trained on a member of the department's own Criminal Investigations Division.
What Investigators Haven't Said
It remains unclear whether Primas's alleged database access or the falsified records affected any active or completed criminal prosecutions handled by the department. His current employment status with the Murfreesboro Police Department has not been disclosed, and state auditors have not said whether they found broader accounting deficiencies within the department's confidential funds beyond the allegations now facing Primas.
