Justin Tate, the former police chief of Halls, Tennessee, has been indicted on 18 counts stemming from allegations that he sexually abused, raped and photographed a minor over nearly a decade. The 37-year-old was booked into the Lauderdale County Jail and is being held on a $275,000 bond.
A grand jury returned two indictments against Tate, according to WREG. The charges include 12 counts of aggravated sexual battery, two counts of aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor, two counts of aggravated unlawful photographing of a minor, rape of a child younger than 13, and incest. Tate served as Halls police chief from 2020 to 2024, the station reports.
Per the indictments, Tate allegedly engaged in the sexual abuse and rape of a child under 13 between December 2014 and December 2017. He is separately accused of unlawfully photographing a minor without clothes between December 2020 and August 2023, and between August 2022 and August 2023, he allegedly possessed material depicting a minor engaged in sexual activity.
Current Chief Says He Left for a Different Role
Harry Hopkins, the current Halls police chief, said Tate left the police department to work as a school resource officer for the Lauderdale County Sheriff's Office, the station's report notes. Hopkins said he could not comment on the investigation itself.
Tate is scheduled to make his first court appearance on October 20, and the new case is set for trial in February, per the same account.
Separate Theft Indictment From Last Year
This is not Tate's first brush with criminal charges. In October 2025, Tate and his wife, Maggie, were indicted for theft of property after allegedly stealing $250,000 from a Halls business where Maggie worked, the article notes. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said the alleged theft occurred from April 2019 to January 2025.
Investigators alleged that Maggie Tate used access to the business's accounts to make fraudulent payments to herself and her husband, according to the WBBJ-TV report on that case. That theft case remains a separate matter from the newly filed sexual abuse indictments against Justin Tate.
