Mayor Andy Berke and some of his top staffers communicated often using an app that causes a text message to disappear after the recipient reads it, investigators were told.
A member of the staff said, "The mayor and his top staffers used it for the purpose of circumventing Open Records requests."
The mayor and some top staff also used their personal cell phones, rather than city-issued phones, "intentionally to make it harder for anyone to get their communications through an Open Records request."
Lacie Stone, whose husband has accused the mayor of having an affair with her, deleted the encryption app on her phone the day after husband Bobby Stone was arrested for allegedly assaulting her.
The incident happened at the Stone home when Mr. Stone allegedly noticed his wife texting Mayor Berke and grabbed for the phone. They struggled over it and she struck him with it, according to a police report. He dragged her out of the house and threw a rock through the rear of her vehicle as she drove off.
A source close to the case said, "Everyone on the mayor's close staff used Whatsapp for almost all of their inter-office communications. They did this in order to avoid FOIA requests. The texts on WhatsApp are encrypted and are not stored anywhere, so if they delete the app, all traces are gone. They used the app to bash unsympathetic council members all the time, in particular, Mr. Grohn." City Councilman Larry Grohn is opposing Andy Berke for mayor in the upcoming election.
On its website WhatsApp says its "end-to-end encryption ensures only you and the person you're communicating with can read what is sent, and nobody in between, not even WhatsApp. Your messages are secured with a lock, and only the recipient and you have the special key needed to unlock and read your message. For added protection, every message you send has a unique lock and key. All of this happens automatically: no need to turn on settings or set up special secret chats to secure your messages."
A source said Lacie Stone also used the app Telegram, which has a password feature and allows the user to "encrypt personal and business secrets and destroy your messages with a timer." Telegram messages "are heavily encrypted and can self-destruct."
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is looking into the roles of Mayor Berke and Police Chief Fred Fletcher in the arrest of Bobby Stone. A report is expected to be made available to the office of District Attorney Neal Pinkston soon.
Marissa Bell of the mayor's staff, asked about use of the encrypting app for much of the city administration's inner-office communication, said, "I don't know about an app that makes messages disappear. As for what's on employees' personal phones, I don't know which apps they may or may not have.
"For any info you are requesting that pertains to city business on personal phones, you are welcome to submit an Open Records Request."