North Augusta Police Chief Lee Wetherington was not paid for five days of vacation, a punishment he recommended, after an investigation of city employee e-mails found he sent inappropriate messages to other employees.

According to city documents released after a Freedom of Information Act inquiry by The Augusta Chronicle, Chief Wetherington served the suspension from May 23 to May 30.

Documents released Thursday show the investigation began in early May after a North Augusta resident complained of receiving inappropriate e-mails from a city employee. That complaint led to an examination of all employee e-mail accounts.

The investigation uncovered a sexual joke sent to Chief Wetherington and co-workers from office employee Tina Craig. Chief Wetherington altered the joke and then resent the e-mail.

During a Thursday news conference, Chief Wetherington said he thought the e-mail was "both harmless and humorous."

"I made a slight change to the e-mail regarding that it must have originated at Clemson and forwarded it back to this employee and others," he said. "My wife, my daughters, my mother and my pastor have seen the e-mail. It may have been in poor taste for some people, and for those people, I apologize."

Documents provided to The Chronicle include a letter from City Administrator Sam Bennett to Human Resources Manager Diana Miller stating Mr. Bennett informed Mayor Lark Jones of the e-mails and took the issue before council members in mid-May.

Chief Wetherington recommended himself for the five-day suspension. Mr. Jones allowed him to serve the suspension during vacation, but the chief also lost 40 hours of compensation.

Employees Tina Craig, Randy Mosley, William Luckey and Charles Williams were also reprimanded for inappropriately using city computers. Mrs. Craig received a one-day suspension for personal use of city e-mail. Mr. Lucky, Mr. Mosley and Mr. Williams received warnings and were told that if it happened again, they should report it.

Chief Wetherington would not comment about any discipline actions, however, according to documents released to The Chronicle, two city employees, John Shaw and Nathan Weigle, resigned from their positions during the investigation.