More than 20 months after he was placed on paid leave — and then later resigned from the department — an order from Minnesota’s Board of Peace Officer Standards and Training is shedding some light on what led to the departure of former Metro Transit Police Chief Ernest Morales III.
A stipulation and consent order agreed to by Morales and a POST Board committee earlier this year — and approved by the board last month — says Morales left the department following allegations that he engaged in sexual harassment.
Morales denied the allegations but agreed to surrender his Minnesota peace officer license, and is barred from renewing that license or obtaining another in Minnesota.
The order was first reported by KARE 11.
Morales had taken over leadership of Metro Transit police in early 2023 after spending most of his career with the New York City Police Department. He was placed on paid leave in August 2024, and resigned the following month.
According to the POST Board order:
In the spring of 2024, “several female MTPD employees made complaints against Morales alleging sexual harassment and discriminatory conduct. MTPD hired an outside law firm to conduct an internal investigation. That investigation concluded that Morales committed multiple instances of workplace misconduct.”
The allegations included how Morales referred to and treated female employees. Morales resigned from the department before he was interviewed as part of the investigation.
When the issue went before a POST Board committee, Morales denied engaging in any kind of sexual harassment “and attributed the allegations against him as retaliation for his leadership style because he was an ‘outsider’ and ‘changing the culture’ of the agency,” the POST Board order states.
The board committee still found that there were “reasonable grounds” to believe Morales had engaged in sexual harassment and failed to self-report that to the board. It began a contested case hearing on the matter — but Morales, while still denying the allegations, agreed to surrender his license “to save the time, expense and uncertainty of a contested case hearing.”
Morales agreed to the terms of the stipulation and consent order in late March, followed by approval by the POST Board committee in early April and the full board late last month.
Messages left with an attorney representing Morales in the matter was not immediately returned on Monday.
The Metropolitan Council, which oversees Metro Transit and its police department, issued a statement Monday saying that the order “is a matter between the former Chief and the Board of Peace Officer Standards and Training. The Met Council is committed to keeping our workplace and communities safe, respectful, and free from harm."
