Former Chattanooga police chief indicted on illegal voter registration, perjury charges

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee investigators say the former Chattanooga police chief has been indicted on charges that she illegally registered to vote in the state and falsely filled out government documents. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigations said Thursday that a grand jury in Hamilton County handed down a 17-count indictment against Celeste Murphy this week. Murphy had been overseeing the Chattanooga Police Department since 2022 but resigned Wednesday. She turned herself in to a jail Thursday and was released on a $19,000 aggregate bond. Murphy has been under investigation since April after the Chattanooga Times Free Press reported conflicting residency claims on her tax forms in Georgia and voter forms in Tennessee.