A Smith County probation officer has been fired for sending an inappropriate text message to someone with whom they had never had contact.
The person on probation who received this text does not want her identity revealed. For the purpose of this story, she will be referred to as "Linda."
Linda is on probation for a Class B misdemeanor, as she switched price tags at a Walmart.
"I got in trouble for what I did, and I take responsibility for it," Linda said.
Now she reports to the Smith County Community Supervision and Corrections Department (CSCD).
"I've done everything compliant with them," Linda said. "We have to call a number every single day. If your number gets called, you have to go in and give a random UA [urinary analysis], which I've done three times."
The last time Linda drove home from her urinary analysis, she received something that caught her off guard.
"I got this text message from a number that I didn't know," Linda said.
She received an inappropriate text message about one of her body parts. When Linda got home, she typed in that phone number into her Facebook search.
"This guy popped up, and it turns out that he worked at the probation office," Linda said. "It clearly said that on his page."
This was an officer Linda never worked with or met.
"It was terrifying," Linda said. "I was really scared honestly. He shouldn't have even had access at all."
Now Linda worries about what else he knows about her.
"My file has my mom's address," Linda said. "My grandparent's address. My social. My address. Everything. He has all that. It kind of freaks me out. I didn't even want to be at my apartment, so I stayed with my mom."
Smith County CSCD Director Joe Heath would not go on camera Thursday but said this officer has been fired for his actions and provided a statement. He wrote, "The investigation revealed one inappropriate text was sent by the officer in violation of department's policy. Smith County CSCD has policies in place that prohibit such conduct and all employees are held accountable for compliance with such policies evidence by this matter."
While the officer may be fired, Linda said she still is concerned.
"It really doesn't fix the situation honestly because it's a place where you're supposed to go to take care of your business, get it done with," Linda said. "I was only in there for 20 minutes, so I'm assuming that he's done it before if it took that short amount of time to get it."
CBS 19 is not saying this officer's name since he has not committed a crime as far as we know. For the CSCD, this is the second time in 2016 the department has had a probation issue. This past February, we told you about a woman who was forced to pay months of probation fees for a criminal case that had been dismissed.