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More cringe-worthy details have emerged about the courthouse romps a married federal judge had with a high-ranking cop for two years — while clerks were forced to listen to revolting sex sounds.
Whistleblower clerks in the unidentified courthouse in the 11th Circuit in the south lifted the lid on their boss’s risque work-hours rendezvous — and also accused the judge of phoning it in when it came to actual legal work, according to a judicial complaint from December 2025.
The judge, who was raking in more than $200,000 a year, repeatedly had the police officer come into chambers from October 2023 to October 2025, oftentimes during lunchtime and as music played to set the mood, according to interviews with the clerks — some of whom were subjected to “kissing sounds” and “moaning,” court papers claimed.
The dalliances, which the judge was keeping from their spouse at the time, caused an “awkward” work environment among staffers at the courthouse, the documents alleged.
The identity of the judge in the 11th Circuit, which encompasses federal courts in Florida, Georgia and Alabama, was withheld in an order slapping them with a mere “private reprimand.”
During the time of the misconduct, the judge would have been raking in between $232,000 and $247,000 yearly, according to a federal judicial compensation chart.
Six of the judge’s law clerks saw the cop — a division commander — go into chambers and three of those remembered “first-hand, overhearing what may have been sexual activity,” coming from inside the office, the complaint claims.
During one of the alleged sexual encounters, “Law Clerk B” heard “music playing and the judge talking with a visitor” before the conversation stopped for a period despite the visitor not leaving the room. This caused “the clerk to conclude that the judge and the visitor might have been engaged in intimate contact,” the complaint said.
“Law Clerk C” suspected the judge was having sex in June 2024 and then again in August of that year after hearing music and conversation — the latter suddenly stopping. The second time, the clerk heard “kissing sounds” from inside the office as well, the complaint alleges.
The suspected affair caused one of the underlings to lose focus at work and lose sleep. Another was so “unsettled” by the noises they packed it in for the day, and a third was “very uncomfortable,” the papers said.
The clerks went to a supervisor asking what to do about their suspicions and that supervisor said they felt “powerless to prevent the term clerks from exposure to the relationship.” And staffers couldn’t help but speculate about “what the judge and officer were doing behind closed doors, leading to an awkward working environment,” the documents claimed.
When confronted about the on-the-job affair in September 2025, the judge initially tried to claim one of the clerks lied because they had an axe to grind over criticisms the judge made to the employee, including that they were on their cellphone too much at work, needed to wear more professional clothes and were frequently late, the papers said.
The judge also allegedly claimed the clerk was upset after the jurist asked them to return to the office four days a week.
In October 2025, after the judge was first confronted, the judge’s lawyer filed a response, walking back the prior denial and admitting the judge had an affair with the cop at work. The judge claimed they didn’t know that anyone could hear their carnal noises.
The judge was also hit with other misconduct claims, including that they allowed their clerks to write judicial orders in civil cases — that the judge barely looked over.
“Multiple clerks stated that, given their inexperience, they were uncomfortable with the level of discretion they appeared to exercise in handling civil cases,” the complaint alleged.
But the judge claimed to put eyes on all “substantive orders” while saying they only made edits to 30 or 40% of the draft orders from their clerks.
“Law Clerk A” said numerous times the judge emailed the clerk asking to post the order “within a few minutes of receiving it, indicating that the judge may not have had time to read it,” the complaint alleged.
“Although the committee is troubled by the law clerks’ assertion that the Subject Judge is not engaged in the resolution of civil cases (and, indeed, by the judge’s own admission of such a lack of engagement), the facts established do not support a finding of judicial misconduct,” the complaint said.
The staffers also claimed that the judge once said they had to go home early because they drank martinis at a party for a district attorney buddy. The judge later claimed they were merely joking and at the DA’s “mixer” they only had an appetizer served in a martini glass, the papers show.
The judge was investigated for breaking the rules by going to the DA’s political event but the judge maintained they didn’t cross the line because it wasn’t a fundraiser, there were no political speeches and the judge didn’t endorse the DA or any other candidate in any way.
The complaint said the judge’s attendance seemed like a “one-time lapse in judgment.”
As for the judge initially lying about the affair, the complaint found “there is no excuse for the egregious falsities” the judge “submitted to fellow judges.”
The Judicial Council of the 11th Circuit endorsed the findings in the complaint and agreed that the judge should be privately reprimanded and forced to write apology letters to the six law clerks that were interviewed.
The judge is also barred from ever being promoted to chief judge and from serving on a judicial conference committee.
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