NEW ORLEANS - Going through the trunk of his St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office vehicle for what may be the last time is a tough pill to swallow for Steven Hoffmann.
The Reserve Deputy served his last day Friday. Hoffmann believes it was because of a Facebook post he shared, supporting his friend Nick Tranchina who is running against Sheriff Randy Smith.
"I saw his advertisement pop up for the election saying that he was openly running for sheriff and I said 'Oh, well, I'm gonna post some good words about him so," Hoffmann said.
Hoffmann made the post Thursday morning. By the afternoon, he got a call from his Captain. Friday morning, he went into his office.
"The captain's in there with me and they basically just told me, 'Hey, we don't want you here no more. You're fired," Hoffmann said.
In an audio recording Hoffmann sent to Eyewitness News, you can hear Hoffmann asking his supervisor for an explanation.
"And then I said, 'does this have anything to do with my recent Facebook activity?' And he said, 'Not necessarily,'" Hoffmann said.
Hoffmann says he has been with the department since 2012, has never gotten into trouble and has even gone viral with a positive Facebook video about the department. He feels his termination has everything to do with this post.
Hoffmann said he also finds it alarming, especially since Hoffmann claims Randy Smith issued a letter, saying that during his last campaign, he would never fire someone because of where they stand politically.
"I'm guessing he changed his mind..overtime," Hoffmann said.
Eyewitness News reached out to the sheriff's office. They told us that Sheriff Smith is out of town. When we asked for a statement, they refused. In February 2018 on a previous story, Sheriff Smith did tell Eyewitness News where he stood when it came to his authority.
"I am the hiring and firing authority as the sheriff. I make those decisions," Smith said during that interview.
According to the employee conduct manual, employees should refrain from posting anything that may discredit the agency or express prejudice concerning politics. (See below for conduct manual. Can't see the document? Click here)
Employee Conduct Policy Stpso by WWLTVWebteam on Scribd
The political activity portion only mentions prohibiting political activities while on agency time.
"I feel like he kind of stumped on my amendments. Freedom of Speech. Where is it?" Hoffmann said.
Hoffmann says he never said anything negative about the sheriff and that his words about Nick Tranchina were encouraging and nice.
Caresse Jackman can be reached at cjackman@wwltv.com.