How reporting an affair at Prosper PD led to half a dozen demotions and an internal battle

When is it safe to report wrongdoing? That's the question some Prosper police officers are asking after a wave of punishments rocked the department.

It began with rumors of an affair between a sergeant and a detective that several employees called "the worst kept secret" in the department.

The detectives who reported it said the relationship between Sgt. Larry Windon and Det. Lauren Harper had negatively affected morale and productivity. Joseph Buttery, Michael Zachary and Cody Wilson, all Prosper PD detectives, began looking into the couple on Dec. 30, 2025.

In video interviews obtained by the I-Team, the men told Internal Affairs all it took was a look at the station's own surveillance cameras. They said Windon would repeatedly place his cellphone in a bathroom, leave the property, then come back less than an hour later. His return always coincided with Harper's arrival at work.

"We started going backwards on the camera and found 13 incidents in total in the 30-day timeframe that our camera system stores," Zachary told investigators.

The detectives also handed over information from Flock, the department's license plate reader system. The data led them to believe the pair was meeting in neighborhoods, parking lots and at a nearby hotel. And they submitted surveillance video shared by the hotel, which showed Harper and Windon entering and exiting a hotel room two days in a row.

According to the detectives, their findings turned up potential policy violations including failing to disclose a supervisor/subordinate relationship. While Windon was not Harper's direct supervisor, she sometimes took on shifts that fell under Windon's command.

The detectives also felt the relationship may have resulted in misuse of town equipment, along with potential criminal acts like public lewdness and indecent exposure.

The detectives said they notified their supervisor, Sgt. Seanna Arredondo, on Dec. 30. She told Internal Affairs she alerted Assistant Chief Tom Davis that same day. Doug Kowalski, the chief at the time, said that he learned of the investigation on Jan. 2, 2026.

On Jan. 5, Harper and Windon were put on administrative leave while Internal Affairs Lt. Bryan Golden looked into the allegations. In separate interviews, Harper and Windon admitted the relationship had started nearly a year earlier.

Former Prosper police chief says firing recommendation was reversed

Chief Kowalski was on the verge of retirement. In a statement obtained by the I-Team, he said the couple's behavior "crossed serious professional and legal lines," and that when he met with the town manager and HR director, "the group agreed: the sergeant and female detective should be terminated."

But, he wrote, "a few hours later on that same afternoon, without explanation... town manager Mario Canizares reversed the decision."

No one with the Town of Prosper agreed to an interview or answered the I-Team's questions for this story

The I-Team asked Alex del Carmen, a nationally known criminologist at Tarleton State University who has trained thousands of police officers, for his opinion on the case. He said while city managers have the authority to override disciplinary decisions, it is rare that they do.

"They look at the big picture: the idea of maintaining, supporting, and going forward with the city," del Carmen said. "But at the same time, they're not in the weeds. They're not going to know a case in and out the way that perhaps the chief of police would know it."

According to Kowalski's statement, he was removed from the disciplinary process because he was about to leave, but he said he made it clear that Buttery, Wilson and Zachary were "whistleblowers." Kowalski defended their use of the camera systems, writing that "determining where police vehicles are located is not unusual," adding that there is no expectation of privacy in government-owned property. Any punishment for the detectives, Kowalski, said should be no more than a written reprimand.

Why were the Prosper detectives who reported the affair disciplined?

Like the punishments for Harper and Windon, those recommendations were also ignored. Two weeks after Kowalski's retirement, the interim police chief disciplined everyone involved: the couple, the detectives who reported the relationship, and their supervisor.

Ken Myers, the interim chief, said the detectives violated three policies for conducted an unauthorized investigation and use of the license plate readers. Their sergeant was disciplined for her handling of the matter. The sole violation against the couple was for not reporting the relationship. All six were demoted and placed on a one-year probation. All six have appealed the discipline.

In Buttery's disciplinary hearing, Myers said the situation had "spun out of control" and focused on the fact that Buttery and the others had investigated one of their own. According to Myers, if the detectives had suspected misconduct or potential criminal activity, they should have let Internal Affairs or the Texas Rangers investigate. Myers also said he disagreed that the use of Flock had been in accordance with the department's policy.

Buttery maintained that he, Wilson and Zachary were trying to handle a sensitive internal matter by "fact finding" before reporting anything up the chain.

MYERS: What purpose did going to the hotel serve?

BUTTERY: To determine the policy violation of the... supervisor/subordinate relationship.

MYERS: I mean --

BUTTERY: Now there may be other acts out there... her using her vehicle, or theft or whatever, that's why when I submitted that initial complaint it had all that initial information in there, as far as these potential --

MYERS: But we just said that we don't investigate --

BUTTERY: Wasn't investigating. That's for the investigator to find out, sir. These are the observable facts that we gathered... do your job.

Later Myers told Buttery, "I think it's in the best interests of the department and the town to demote you from detective to police officer."

Kowalski submitted his statement to the detectives' attorney for use in their appeal. In it, he says the detectives "showed great courage by reporting misconduct at great personal risk and criticism," adding that their discipline was "deeply troubling" for a number of reasons:

• "The three were ranked #1, #2, and #3 on the Sergeant's promotion list. Their demotion means they can no longer be promoted. (It also deprives the Department and citizens of the best candidates for promotion)."
• "They were transferred out of the Criminal Investigations Division and lost their assigned vehicles -- another big negative financial impact."
• "They now work in Patrol, where they could be supervised by ... the very person they reported."

Del Carmen calls the discipline "equal punishment for unequal conduct," saying there is "no moral equivalency" between what the couple is accused of doing and what the detectives are alleged to have done.

"I absolutely do not have a negative opinion of these detectives wanting to find out what the truth is," del Carmen said. "What is questionable in my mind is not the why, but the 'how' did they go about doing that."

For del Carmen, the biggest question is who gave the first directive to the detectives to start looking into the relationship.

"Police officers cannot run loose on their own trying to use the resources of a city or a municipality in order to investigate rumors," he said.

According to the IA reports, the detectives looked at the internal camera system, saw signs of the affair, then told their sergeant. In his statement Kowalski said the detectives' search of the station's camera system was part of their "routine course of duties."

Kowalski's statement also warns that punishing the detectives this way "sends a clear and dangerous message: keep quiet."

Whistleblower appeal still pending as Prosper Police prepares for new chief

While the discipline was handed down in February, the appeal hearings have still not taken place. Sources within the department tell the I-Team that the delay has held up promotions and caused staffing shortages in key positions. They say morale was already low and that now there is a loss of faith in leadership.

Meanwhile, Prosper PD is about to get its third police chief this year. In June the town announced it had hired Brent Brown, an assistant chief from Celina, to lead the agency. He's expected to start in the role in July.

Attorneys for Arredondo, Harper and Windon declined to comment for this story. Randall Moore, the attorney representing the three detectives, called the discipline "the most blatant whistleblower case violation" he's seen in 41 years of practice. Moore provided the statement from Kowalski, who also declined to be interviewed for this story. The full statement is embedded below.

Robyn Battle, the Town of Prosper's executive director, said in a statement, "The Prosper Police Department recently completed an internal review involving a small number of employees. We hold our officers to a high standard of integrity, and matters involving officer conduct are taken seriously and addressed in accordance with departmental policy. This was strictly an internal administrative matter and did not impact public safety. While we remain committed to transparency and high standards of conduct, the Town does not comment on specific personnel matters."