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The photos would light up her phone late into the night. Sometimes, she’d get 20 photos in a single day, all from the same man. They were photos of the man shirtless, or in the shower.
He repeatedly asked her to send back “very explicit pictures” of her own, according to court records. She told him “no.” He kept asking.
Then she blocked him. The Mitchell Police Department has had three chiefs in a little over a year from 2023 to 2024. Its current chief is now facing a protection order after a 24-year-old woman accused him of sending her explicit, unwanted messages on Snapchat, driving past her home repeatedly and letting her know he knew when her boyfriend wasn’t there.
“Now he drives by my house and my parents’ house at least three times a week,” the woman wrote in her petition seeking a protection order. “I’m afraid he will come after me and harm me ..
.” Dominick Peterson, the man in this case, is the police chief in Mitchell. Recently, a judge ordered Peterson not to contact or go near the woman, who described feeling terrified by his behavior.
“Her worry was that if she felt like she needed to call the police, she was afraid she would not be believed, because the person she was accusing was not just some guy off the street, but a law enforcement officer,” said Maren Chaloupka, the attorney representing the woman. People are also reading..
. Mayoral elections in Mitchell have been closely contested over the past decade. Mayor Paul Murrell won by four votes in 2022 after falling short in both 2014 and 2018.
Shortly after taking office, a wave of departures rippled through the ranks of city leadership. Mitchell, a town of 1,527 people near Scottsbluff, went through three police chiefs in just over a year. The town’s mayor told the Flatwater Free Press he was unaware of the protection order against the latest chief, despite the fact that the city was subpoenaed for records tied to the case.
“That’s not appropriate for anybody, I would think,” Mayor Paul Murrell replied when asked if Peterson’s behavior was appropriate for a police chief. Murrell said he needed to speak with the city attorney before saying anything about Peterson’s future employment. He didn’t respond to additional phone messages.
The protection order issued against Peterson is the latest turmoil in this Panhandle city. Before cycling through police chiefs, Mitchell switched between three mayors in 15 months. Then its city administrator resigned.
And months later, a City Council member stepped down, saying she felt “unsafe and devalued.” *** In April 2024, Peterson and the woman crossed paths through their jobs. The police chief, now 44, soon added the 24-year-old woman on Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat, according to court documents.
But he messaged her only on Snapchat, a platform known for self-deleting messages and images. On Snapchat, if a user screenshots a message or picture, the original sender is notified. The woman said she didn’t keep screenshot evidence of Peterson’s messages because she feared it would provoke him, her lawyer argued in court.
Mitchell Police Chief Dominick Peterson worked as an officer in Scottsbluff before joining the Mitchell Police Department. In April 2024 he was promoted to chief. Recently a judge ordered him to have zero contact with a woman who alleged Peterson had harassed her for months.
The woman testified that she told Peterson she had a boyfriend; that he needed to respect her boundaries. The messages persisted, according to court records. Peterson would send Snapchat images indicating that he knew the woman was home alone, that he knew her boyfriend was at work.
Peterson did not dispute these facts in court. She worried that blocking him would escalate the situation. Peterson carries a gun because of his job, Judge Randin Roland noted while granting the protection order.
“The petitioner was cowering and shaking with tears in her eyes from having to be in the same room with (Peterson),” Roland wrote when granting the protection order. In July 2024, the woman blocked Peterson. And the situation did escalate, according to court records.
Peterson — who works in Mitchell and lives in Scottsbluff — started driving past the woman’s Gering home. “He has training. He has a weapon.
He has special professional knowledge,” Chaloupka said. “All of that was very unnerving to her, especially when this individual began to drive by her home.” He stopped when she filed her request for a protection order in August 2024, according to court documents.
City leaders should have known about this protection order, Chaloupka said, since the city attorney was notified when Chaloupka subpoenaed city records. Peterson’s attorney, William Madelung, argued in court that there was no need to grant the order since Peterson stopped interacting with the woman once she requested it. He argued that she could have blocked Peterson sooner and she could have deleted the Snapchat app entirely.
This isn’t Peterson’s first time before a judge for a protection order. He’s been the subject of four other such cases since 2020. Two individuals, both men, each tried twice to get protection orders against Peterson.
All four were dropped or dismissed in court, with the judge ruling that while the men could not prove they were “terrified, threatened or intimidated.” In the fourth protection order case, the judge described both parties as engaging in “public displays of juvenile and petty behavior.” Peterson didn’t respond to emails from the Flatwater Free Press seeking comment.
Reached by email, his attorney Madelung said, “my client has no comment at this time beyond that we have received and are currently reviewing Judge Roland’s order.” Peterson had not yet decided if he will pursue an appeal, his attorney said. *** Since 2010, the same three men have competed to become Mitchell’s mayor.
Brian Taylor beat Murrell in 2010 and 2014. Then, in 2018, David Curtis defeated Taylor. But Curtis eventually resigned and Taylor stepped in to serve the remainder of the term.
Mitchell Mayor Paul Murrell listens during the April 8 City Council meeting. Murrell said recently he was unaware that a judge had issued a protection order against Mitchell Police Chief Dominick Peterson. Murrell then challenged Taylor in 2022 and won – by four votes.
Within a month of Murrell being sworn in, police chief Kevin Krzyzanowski was fired and later replaced with Matt Holcomb, a Scotts Bluff County deputy. A year later, Holcomb left to take a job with the Gering Police Department. Peterson, hired as a part-time officer at the same time as Holcomb, was promoted to chief.
“Some of it needed to happen,” Murrell said of the turnover. Police chief turnover isn’t an automatic red flag, said Tom Casady, former police chief in Lincoln. In the U.
S., the average tenure for a police chief is seven years, according to a 2021 survey. The churn can be more pronounced in small towns where chiefs are paid less, Casady said.
But the turnover in Mitchell should be cause for concern, he said. Soon after Murrell started as mayor, the city administrator departed. Seven months later, Angie Preston, the only woman on the City Council, quit, too.
“My voice has repeatedly been silenced and I feel my experience and viewpoints are no longer respected,” Preston wrote in her November 2023 resignation letter. “I feel it is no longer safe or wise for me to remain on the council.” *** The protection order prohibits Peterson from communicating with the woman in any way.
Before seeking a protection order, the woman filed a police report with the Gering Police Department. The Nebraska State Patrol also had records of her case, according to court records. Peterson has not been charged with a crime.
Protection orders are civil proceedings with a lower standard of proof. Since 2021, six Nebraska police officers have had their law enforcement certifications revoked for domestic violence misdemeanors, according to the Nebraska Crime Commission. Another included a stalking misdemeanor.
Two others were because of findings after protection orders were granted. "If it falls under that area of conviction for a crime or serious misconduct, then (the agency has) to tell us that that's what's occurring. And then we look at that," said Bryan Tuma, the commission's executive director.
But with no criminal charge, there's no requirement to notify the commission, Tuma added. But a protection order – issued when a judge believes a person represents a risk – on its own is enough to undermine public trust, said Casady. “I don’t think anyone that’s got that kind of behavior pattern can credibly serve as a law enforcement officer, or a public official of any kind for that matter.
” The Flatwater Free Press is Nebraska’s first independent, nonprofit newsroom focused on investigations and feature stories that matter. The E-edition is available to you every morning, and is updated throughout the day Top Journal Star photos for April 2025 Construction worker Gustavo Leverman works on a home in the 800 block of West Avondale Street on Tuesday. Rising costs for building materials like lumber due to tariffs have raised the average cost of building a home.
Luke Shaner peeks through a fake dinosaur egg with his toy T-Rex at the Jurassic Quest event Friday at the Sandhills Global Event Center. Lincoln East's Carter Harmes (3) high fives his teammates after scoring a run as he heads back inside the dugout in the second inning of the HAC baseball championship at Den Hartog Field on Wednesday, April 16, 2025. Lincoln Star goalkeeper Yan Shostak (33) blocks a shot by Sioux City's Nikita Klepov (92) as he is backed up by teammate Gio Digiulian (17) during the second period in Game 1 of a USHL Western Conference semifinals series Friday, April 18, 2025, at the Ice Box.
Damien Rodriguez (front to back), Jason Bell and Cesar Gonzalez, who competed as the team “Three Blind Mice,” pull a plane on Saturday during the Woman in Aviation Cornhusker Chapter's 2nd Annual Plane Pull at the Lincoln Airport. Loren Eiseley Society vice president Thomas Lynch (from left), society president Bing Chen, and Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird unveil a new historical marker honoring writer Loren Eiseley on Friday at Irvingdale Park. Mary Abebe (left) returns to her seat after being named the 2025 Scottish Rite Educator of the Year as Brenda Barnett and Stacie Coatman congratulate her on Friday at Adams Elementary School.
Abebe, who teachers computer science, started at Lincoln Public Schools in 1995 and moved to Adams in 2019. Lincoln Northeast's Lazerek Houston poses for a photo during the 2025 Super State photoshoot at the Lincoln Journal Star on Saturday, April 5, 2025, in Lincoln. Omaha Skutt's Molly Ladwig poses for a photo during the 2025 Super State photoshoot at the Lincoln Journal Star on Saturday, April 5, 2025, in Lincoln.
Nebraska head coach Rhonda Revelle (from left) embraces player Natalia Hill at the top of the 6th inning next to Jordyn Bahl during the Creighton game on Wednesday at Bowlin Stadium. Zemi Wolfe records as she dumps water on her mother, Rudi Wolfe, on Saturday at Zeman Elementary School. The school hosted a color run, picnic, splash towers and other family-friendly events with proceeds going to support the school's summer activities.
Protesters with the American Federation of Government Employees union (AFGE) hold a rally outside of the Lincoln VA Clinc at on Tuesday, April 8, 2025, in Lincoln. The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) local representing Department of Veterans Affairs employees at the Lincoln VA Clinic rallied Tuesday to stop the attacks on the federal workforce. Cows graze in the fields below as Sandhill Cranes take flight at sunrise along the Platte River on Sunday, April 6, 2025, in Kearney.
The Cranes eat corn from the grain fields and then sleep on the sandbars. The largest congregation of sandhill cranes occurs from February to early April along the Platte River in Nebraska. Gretna East senior Sonora DeFini scores against Lincoln Southwest with a header during a high school soccer game on Monday, April 7, 2025, at Beechner Athletic Complex.
Sen. Ashlei Spivey during debate on a bill that would return Nebraska to a winner-take-all presidential election system at the Capitol on Tuesday. Halsey, a Great Horned Owl, looks through a kaleidoscope of mirrors on display on Saturday, April 5, 2025, at Indian Center Inc in Lincoln.
Lincoln Southwest's Sole Jones (center) competes against other athletes in heat one of the girls 400m during a track and field invitational at Union Bank Stadium on Thursday, April 3, 2025, in Lincoln. A bee covered in pollen buzzes from flower to flower on Sunday, April 6, 2025, at the Sunken Gardens in Lincoln. Jarrek Renshaw, a lead mechanic, works on an engine in a testing area at Duncan Aviation on Wednesday.
Duncan is expanding its engine overhaul facility, which will allow it to test engines for Canadian aerospace manufacturer Pratt & Whitney. University of Kansas students Remi Ward (left) and Jess Judd test out their concrete canoe Friday at Holmes Lake. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Engineering hosted a competition in which college students from across the region used their own concrete mixes to design and build canoes -- some more than 20 feet long and weighing more than 300 pounds.
The canoes were tested for buoyancy and raced at Holmes Lakes. The event was part of the American Society of Civil Engineers' Mid-America Student Symposium hosted by UNL from Thursday through Saturday. Rutgers’ Yomar Carreras (left) slides into home as Nebraska’s Will Jesske tags him out on Sunday at Haymarket Park.
An early voter drops off her ballot at a drop box at the Lancaster County Election Commission Office, 601 N. 46th St., on Friday in Lincoln.
The primary election is Tuesday. Nebraska defensive line coach Terry Bradden talks to players during a team practice on Tuesday, April 8, 2025, at Hawks Championship Center. Sandhill Cranes excitedly dance with one another as they begin to stir along the sandbars on the Platte River the morning of Sunday, April 6, 2025, in Kearney.
' Hundreds of thousands of Sandhill Cranes have been converging on the Platte Basin for their annual migration to their northern breeding grounds. Every spring, as sandhill cranes are migrating to their breeding grounds, cranes without partners will start pairing up. During this time, the cranes perform dancing displays.
Although the dancing is most common in the breeding season, the cranes can dance all year long. Sometimes the dance involves wing-flapping, bowing, and jumping. Jacob Huebert, president of the Liberty Justice Center, argues at the Nebraska Supreme Court in a case over the city's ban on guns in public places on Thursday, April 3, 2025, at the Capitol.
Gov. Jim Pillen (right) greets World War II veterans Clare Sward (from left) and Jay Cawley on Tuesday in Lincoln. Lincoln Pius X's Tatum Heimes (from left) and Ana Patera look on as Gretna East's Lily Frederick (far right) celebrates a goal with teammate Madi Shelburne during a high school soccer game on Monday, March 31, 2025, in Lincoln.
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