A candidate for Moore County Sheriff has just been hit with a federal lawsuit in his role as Monteagle Police Chief.

The candidate and police chief of Monteagle, William Raline, was named alongside Monteagle Police Sgt. Alhafiz Ibn Karteron, Treva Baker, and the Town of Monteagle. The suit was filed by Monteagle businessman Rodney Lynn Kilgore who claims he was wrongly arrested and that officers used excessive force. He also believes there was an element of retaliation in the arrest coming from an unpaid repair bill.

The suit maintains that the chain of events that led to the arrest began to unfold on Sept. 15, 2025, when Kilgore, owner of Monteagle Truck and Tire and Monteagle Wrecker Service, called Monteagle police after a customer refused to pay for repair work on a semi-tractor trailer.

The complaint alleges that Karteron, responding to the call, phoned Raline for guidance. According to the lawsuit, Raline directed Karteron to tell Kilgore the matter was civil in nature, and ordered Karteron to arrest Kilgore for false imprisonment if he refused to release the vehicle.

Kilgore’s attorney maintains that Tennessee law under the mechanic’s lien statute gave Kilgore the legal right to retain the vehicle until the bill was paid. The complaint notes that a General Sessions Court judge later dismissed the false imprisonment charge, finding no probable cause. A Marion County grand jury subsequently declined to indict Kilgore on related vandalism and resisting arrest charges.

The lawsuit also alleges that while Kilgore was handcuffed in the back of Karteron’s patrol car — “with the heater running on a hot day” Karteron physically abused him without justification, tightening his handcuffs and shoving him forcefully into the vehicle. Bodycam footage, the complaint claims, contradicted Karteron’s account of the incident at a subsequent court hearing.

The complaint further alleges that the day after Kilgore’s arrest, Baker — who the lawsuit says lives with Karteron but is not his wife — told a Marion County Sheriff’s deputy that Kilgore had approached and frightened her at a food truck where she worked. According to the lawsuit, Karteron falsely told the deputy that Baker was his wife, a legally significant claim because the charge they sought — felony retaliation for past action — required the alleged victim to be a spouse.

Based on those statements, the lawsuit alleges, a warrant was issued for Kilgore’s arrest on the felony charge. That charge was dismissed by the State of Tennessee on Jan. 6, 2026, before a hearing could be held.

The complaint alleges that Karteron later used the no-contact order obtained through those proceedings to bar Kilgore from attending a Nov. 2025 Monteagle Board of Mayor and Aldermen meeting, threatening him with arrest if he entered.

The lawsuit raises questions about Raline’s oversight of Karteron. According to the complaint, a Board member raised concerns in October 2025 about a letter from the Murfreesboro Police Department indicating Karteron had been terminated from that agency. The complaint alleges the termination stemmed from Karteron’s failure to disclose during the MPD hiring process that he had originally been charged with aggravated assault — a Class C felony — and had served 90 days in jail. The assault victim, the complaint states, required helicopter evacuation to Vanderbilt Hospital.

The lawsuit alleges Raline defended Karteron’s continued employment at the October meeting, attributing the prior charge’s resolution to an expungement. Separately, the complaint states that multiple residents raised concerns at a February 2026 Board meeting about difficulty filing misconduct complaints with the Monteagle Police Department, with one resident saying that speaking to Raline about complaints was like “talking with that camera there.”

The complaint brings 10 counts against the defendants, including violations of the First, Fourth, and Fourteenth Amendments under federal civil rights law, as well as state law claims of malicious prosecution, assault and battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and civil conspiracy.

Kilgore wants compensatory damages totaling millions of dollars and punitive damages against the individual defendants. The case has been assigned to the Chattanooga division of the Eastern District of Tennessee.

Raline is listed as a candidate for Moore County Sheriff and will appear on the upcoming Moore County primary ballot.

The defendant was formally served with the lawsuit Monday at the Monteagle Police Department.

At Monday’s Monteagle Board of Mayor and Aldermen, a motion to fire Karteron from the Monteagle Police Department failed by a vote of 3-2.