A mayor in the United States is at the centre of a major political scandal after a lawsuit alleged he was caught on security cameras wandering his town hall in the dead of night without any trousers on, having let a female journalist into the building.
The Midnight Incident and Alleged Cover-Up
According to legal documents filed by former IT employee Jeff Noble, Mooresville Mayor Chris Carney, 54, used his swipe card to grant local journalist Jaime Gatton access to the municipal building in October 2024 after midnight. Noble became suspicious after noticing the mayor's card being used at irregular hours and investigated the security footage.
The lawsuit claims the footage showed Mayor Carney "scampering" around the hallways without his pants on. It is alleged the pair remained inside for four and a half hours, even after local police attended when motion sensors were triggered. Noble states that Gatton hid in the mayor's office, which officers did not search.
Noble reported the incident as a serious security breach and misuse of municipal property, arguing it violated mayoral ethics. His lawsuit contends that Carney and other officials then worked to suppress the surveillance video and acted against him before he was fired from his job in July 2025.
The Mayor's Unconventional Defence
Mayor Carney admitted to being in the building that night. In a statement to the Iredell Free News in December 2024, he explained that Gatton was a friend of 20 years. He said they had met for a margarita after he had earlier dined with a town commissioner, but he began to feel unwell.
"I got worse, I got dizzy, I felt nauseous," Carney told the outlet. He claimed a combination of prescription anxiety medication and alcohol made him ill, and he decided he could not drive home. He said they went to Town Hall to collect a phone and stayed for several hours until he felt safe to drive, insisting: "I felt I was doing the right thing and not driving impaired."
Fallout and Legal Repercussions
The scandal has personal and professional ramifications. Carney is married to his wife, Francie, and they have three children. The couple live in a $400,000 lakeside home in Mooresville. When contacted by the Daily Mail, Francie Carney immediately hung up the phone.
In his lawsuit, Jeff Noble is seeking damages for lost wages, emotional distress, and reputational harm. He told media he was "absolutely shocked" by the footage, questioning, "Why would we go to a public building and engage in this type of behaviour?"
Mayor Carney has hit back, posting on Facebook that Noble has a history of "threatening public officials for personal financial gain" and noting the plaintiff has an active arrest warrant. Both Carney and Gatton were approached for further comment on the allegations.
