MINNEAPOLIS - A St. Francis, Minnesota police investigator is accused of illegally recording interviews of candidates applying for the same job as him.

CBS Minnesota reports A.J. Gennaro allegedly recorded the job interviews of four people applying for a promotion within the police department.

According to a criminal complaint, the same day Gennaro had an interview for a sergeant's post, so did four other people. He's accused of recording all of the interviews, then using his secure credentials and department-issued computer to access the video feed. An examination of his computer found he exported the videos, reports the station.

The Anoka County Sheriff's Office was reportedly called in to investigate.

"The base facts of what he did was record the conversations of other people without their knowledge," Anoka County Sheriff's Commander Paul Sommer said. "He not only recorded the interviews, he recorded the comments made amongst the interview panel."

The station reports Gennaro allegedly shared the videos with the mayor and a city council member, saying "he believed the information contained evidence of misconduct by members of the interview panel."

"I think there were some comments made that threw that whole city government into some sort of situation," Sommer said.

Sommer said someone should have known better.

"You would like to think that somebody in that circle would have known that this type of thing is unethical if they didn't realize it was illegal."

Gennaro is charged with violating data practice law by illegally accessing private data, reports the station.

The city council dismissed Gennaro from the police department due to his alleged conduct. That happened before charges were filed, according to the station.

In the wake of the incident, the city manager resigned.