Edinburgh town council fires Nunez after criminal allegations of child molesting

Nunez Submitted photo

By Andy Bell-Baltaci | Daily Journal
For The Republic

EDINBURGH — The Edinburgh Town Council on Friday fired a former police officer who is facing child molestation charges.

The town council unanimously decided to terminate Michael Nunez’s contract on Friday during a special meeting that was scheduled in the wake of the allegations against him.

Johnson County prosecutors charged Nunez, 33, of Edinburgh, with two high-level felony counts of child molestation. He faces a maximum of 100 years in prison for the sexual abuse that occurred on a minor under the age of 14 over the course of six years, from 2014 to 2020, according to court documents and a joint news release from the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office and Johnson County Prosecutor’s Office.

Sheriff’s deputies arrested Nunez Tuesday. Police first found him at 2:59 a.m. Dec. 30 in the area of River Road and Triangle Road at Camp Atterbury, where he was sitting in his vehicle. He was taken to a nearby hospital for immediate detention. Later that day, the prosecutor’s office filed charges, and he was arrested upon his release from the hospital and taken to the Johnson County jail, the news release said.

He has since been moved to another county’s jail due to his previous role as a law enforcement officer in the county, Sheriff Duane Burgess said. His bond remains $160,000 cash, he said.

The court will work on remote hearing access, prosecutor Joe Villanueva said.

Nunez’s termination will take effect at 12:01 a.m. Sunday. He was suspended Dec. 30, and has not been paid since, said Dustin Huddleston, town attorney.

For more on this story, see Saturday’s Republic.