Leading my one (very mundane) life is exhausting, so I don’t know how people muster the energy to have double lives. Today, there’s a story making its way around Facebook that goes way beyond double lives. We’re talking like, quadruple lives here. It sounds like a movie plot: a small-town police chief is being accused of having relationships with multiple women, while married, and keeping them all in the dark, and what started as a cheating scandal has ended with an arrest.
Stinnett Texas, according to Google, is a small town in Texas with a population of 1,881. Up until today, the chief of police was a man by the name of Jason Collier. Collier, according to The Sun, has worked in law enforcement for 21 years and was named Chief of Police in February 2020. According to the NY Post, he is an ordained minister. He is also on the board of an Arlington, Texas-based religious organization called Our Brothers Keeper. According to its website, the organization’s mission is to “reach our public safety professionals for the cause of Christ and provide them with the tools necessary to become the courageous fathers and mothers we need them to be.” They do this, basically, by holding religious services for first responders.
But this law enforcement officer and man of God was not what he seemed. Collier was allegedly dating numerous women simultaneously while still married. He was even trying to have multiple other engagements (again, while still married). The inherent hypocrisy of it all is making waves around the internet, especially on Facebook, where a group called Jason Collier Netflix Series has skyrocketed to over 100,000 members. As inspiring as it is to see people from all over the country rally against this week’s internet villain, the last thing that should happen is a Netflix series, if only because Collier’s ego, lies, and manipulation have surely caused his family enough grief already.
The affairs were uncovered via Facebook, when a woman named Cecily Steinmetz realized the man she considered her boyfriend was married. She even accused him of presenting fake annulment documents (a picture of which she posted to Facebook) to get her to believe his marriage was dissolved. Steinmetz, according to her Facebook, lives in Amarillo, Texas, about an hour away from Stinnett, which could help explain why he was able to conceal the fact that he is married with children despite living in a town smaller than my high school.
Once Steinmetz’s post started making waves, another woman, Kristi Shaffer, came forward and said that Collier had proposed to her, and they were engaged since December 2020. Shaffer and Steinmetz discovered he got them the same gift, a coffee maker, even though Steinmetz doesn’t even drink coffee (Collier does, which is classic male gift-giving behavior if I’ve ever seen it). Shaffer also said Collier even “begged” her to pick out a ring and wanted to ask her dad for her hand in marriage.
As you can imagine, juggling multiple girlfriends in different area codes takes some finessing. So Collier would allegedly use a variety of excuses to account for being unavailable at times, for instance, claiming to be on a work assignment in Portland, or in Nashville in the wake of the Christmas bombing. Steinmetz also claimed Collier would visit her in Amarillo (again, an hour away) when he was on shift.
More women have since come forward claiming to have also been dating Collier, even sharing his Plenty of Fish profile in which he writes that he is “Not looking for a hookup”, but rather, for “Sincere conversation, building trust and relationship first.”
Collier sent a video to Steinmetz in which he apologizes and says he feels like “the biggest piece of sh*t” (bingo) over and over. In the video, he is wearing his uniform and is presumably in a police vehicle, while a scanner can be heard in the background. Steinmetz posted the video to Facebook.
The Stinnett Police Department Faceobook page was taken down after it was inundated with comments about the alleged affairs.
The City of Stinnett released a statement on Wednesday stating that the city “is aware of the current situation surrounding the Chief of Police Jason Collier.” The city vowed that it “will be looking into any violations of city policy”, and stated that Collier has been placed on administrative leave while the city investigates possible violations of its employment policy. Collier has not responded to multiple outlets’ request for comment.
In a January 27 Facebook post, the founder of Our Brothers Keeper, Weslee Bolton, wrote, “I have been made aware of an ongoing situation involving two members that have asked to step down from the board of directors” before stating he would not address specific questions regarding said members.
Collier was arrested by Texas rangers on Thursday and has been charged with tampering with a government record with the intent to defraud or harm. The City of Stinnett Facebook page confirmed that Collier has resigned.
Images: zef art / Shutterstock.com; JackieKingston1 / Twitter
