The Forest Hill police officer who failed to find a kidnapped 8-year-old Fort Worth girl during a search of a hotel room has been fired, officials said.
The Forest Hill Police Department has faced criticism after Sgt. Richardson Wolfe did not find the missing girl during the search of a hotel room, where she was found with her alleged abductor about two hours later.
"After looking at all of it, I wouldn't have wanted him to respond to the call if it was my 8-year-old, so I can't keep him on staff," said Forest Hill police Chief Dan Dennis.
Dennis said that Wolfe has been placed on indefinite suspension, which, under civil service rules, is the same thing as a termination. The officer can appeal the termination.
The chief said Wolfe's firing is not the result of his not finding the kidnapped girl. It's in reaction to how Wolfe handled the second attempt to find the girl.
Dennis said the sergeant displayed "shocking ineptitude" and was "woefully incompetent" during a second call to the hotel that night.
Wolfe is no longer getting paid and he is no longer on the police department roster. He had worked for the Forest Hill Police Department since 2012.
"Obviously I wish this had gone differently, obviously I'm disappointed in the officer involved," Dennis said.
Wolfe responded twice the night an 8-year-old was kidnapped in Fort Worth. He searched a hotel room two hours prior to Fort Worth police finding the child in that same room.
Wolfe was there when Fort Worth police rescued the girl.
Police found 51-year-old Michael Webb in the room with the girl. He was arrested on a state aggravated kidnapping charge and was later transferred to federal custody on a kidnapping charge.
Webb was indicted on the federal charge Wednesday after he changed his mind about pleading guilty in the case.
He also faces six state charges of aggravated sexual assault.