LEXINGTON, Ky. — A Lexington police officer resigned at the end of January after the department’s Disciplinary Review Board recommended he be fired for secretly recording a meeting with supervisors and then lying about it, according to internal records obtained by this outlet.
Officer Jacob A. Sharp, a member of the Bureau of Patrol assigned to the first shift, submitted his resignation effective Jan. 31, 2026 — one day after Police Chief Lawrence B. Weathers signed off on disciplinary findings that included a recommendation of termination. Sharp had been with the department since December 2021.
Sharp faced two separate formal complaints, both filed by Lt. Nicholas Whitcomb and investigated by the department’s Public Integrity Unit. The more serious of the two centered on a Nov. 4, 2025, incident at the Central Sector Roll Call building, where Sharp was meeting with Whitcomb and Sgt. Tim Moore to discuss an earlier disciplinary matter. During the meeting, Whitcomb noticed Sharp’s phone positioned in his shirt facing outward and determined it was actively recording. Sharp pulled the phone out when confronted, denied taping intentionally, and offered to erase the footage, according to a Dec. 5, 2025, investigative summary written by Lt. Dillan Taylor of the Public Integrity Unit.
But security camera footage from outside the building told a different story, according to the investigation. The video showed Sharp stopping at the top of a staircase before entering the building, touching his phone screen in a manner consistent with starting a recording, and then placing it in his breast pocket. Taylor wrote in his summary that the footage made clear the recording was deliberate and that Sharp’s claim it was accidental was not credible. Taylor also reviewed security footage from multiple other dates over a six-week period and found that Sharp never touched his phone screen in a similar way on any other occasion before entering the building.
The Disciplinary Review Board convened Jan. 20, 2026, and found Sharp’s conduct constituted improper conduct on both counts — violating department rules governing officer misconduct and unauthorized audio and video recordings. The board recommended termination on the recording complaint.
The second complaint involved a separate Oct. 12, 2025, incident in which Sharp, while working an off-duty assignment in uniform at a parking lot near Mill and Short streets, refused a patrol supervisor’s direct order to exit his vehicle and help clear a large crowd that had formed in the lot. According to Sgt. Thomas, the supervisor who gave the order, Sharp told her he did not believe crowd control was his responsibility and declined to leave his car. When she asked if he was refusing her order, he confirmed he was, the investigative summary states.
The investigation found Sharp showed no accountability during his interview and attempted to rationalize his refusal by claiming confusion over the scope of his off-duty assignment. Taylor noted in his summary that Sharp displayed inconsistencies throughout and at one point forgot the supervising sergeant’s name, referring to her impersonally. On that complaint, the board recommended a three-month suspension without pay and a one-year suspension of off-duty work privileges.
Weathers met with Sharp on Jan. 8 and again on Jan. 30, agreeing with both sets of recommendations from the review board, according to a Feb. 2, 2026, memorandum from the chief to the Public Integrity Unit. Sharp resigned the following day.
The nine-member Disciplinary Review Board that heard Sharp’s cases included department command staff, Fraternal Order of Police representatives Sgt. Brad Hawkins and Sgt. William Powers, and two citizen members — Daniel Murphy and Allison Connelly.
Sharp’s personnel order formally documenting his resignation was issued Feb. 2, 2026.