Atlanta, GA
'Unacceptable behavior' prompts VA to suspend top cops at Atlanta Medical Center
Shaneka Jackson complained about sexual harassment from a supervisor two years ago. The VA just suspended him and two other high-ranking members of the Atlanta VA Medical Center police department.
DECATUR, Ga. – Allegations of “unacceptable behavior” prompted the Veterans Administration to place three top police officers at the Atlanta VA Medical Center on paid suspension.
That behavior includes “allegations of sexual assault and harassment,” according to a statement provided to the FOX 5 I-Team from VA Press Secretary Terrence Hayes.
Police Chief Beverly Banks, Deputy Chief of Police Johnnie McCullor and a police major have been removed from duty pending the outcome of an investigation.
But the FOX 5 I-Team learned the VA’s internal affairs office actually investigated some of the same concerns two years ago, yet that person accused of sexual harassment — Deputy Chief McCullor — remained in his position.
Deputy police chief accused of disturbing sexual misconduct
Three of the top cops at the Atlanta VA Medical Center are suspended from police duty with pay amid allegations of unacceptable behavior.
Shaneka Jackson is that alleged victim.
“He would be standing behind me a lot and I’m like why is he always in here?” Jackson told the FOX 5 I-Team in her first public comments. “Doesn’t he have anything else to do?”
Atlanta VA Medical Center Deputy Chief of Police Johnne McCullor is suspended with pay while the VA investigates sexual harassment complaints.
A single mom and retired Air Force military police officer, Jackson applied to join the Atlanta VA Police Department in 2021.
But after working months in dispatch waiting for a slot to open for mandatory police academy training, she said she had to resign because the pandemic kept delaying the start of the class.
According to the EEO complaint she would eventually file with the VA, Jackson said Deputy Police Chief McCullor offered to help her get a job with the private security company the Atlanta VA also uses.
But it turned out to be an offer she says in her complaint that she was unaware came with some sexual strings attached.
“I remember one day he asked me to come into his office,” Jackson said. “He just told me I told you it would cost you.”
According to that complaint, the deputy chief exposed himself and encouraged Jackson to take part in a sexual act.
“I’m like whoa, whoa, whoa like this is not something I’m going to do,” Jackson told us. “I got out of his office so quick. All I remember is seeing him adjust his pants back and I got out of there and started crying hysterically.”
Two friends confirmed to EEOC investigators that Jackson shared details with them shortly after the incident.
But Jackson said she didn’t file an official complaint immediately.
“I was fearful at the time because he had a lot of power,” she said.
But then came a misdirected text in January 2022.
The text that Jackson said McCullor used to get her fired.
Thinking she was texting a friend, Jackson says she accidentally sent this to McCullor:
“Snakes only get so far.”
In her complaint, she says McCullor went to her boss and asked that she be fired.
“I told them hey this man has been harassing me for the longest and y’all trying to fire me for him,” Jackson explained.
She was ultimately demoted and transferred. When she failed to show up for work, the private security company fired her. They denied McCullor played any role in the decision.
Only after she was fired in April 2022 did Jackson file her complaint with the EEOC.
And when McCullor met with EEOC investigators, he denied every one of Jackson’s claims.
Some of the denials from Deputy Chief McCullor to EEO investigators.
The VA convinced an administrative judge to dismiss her complaint because it wasn’t filed in a timely manner and most of her allegations happened when she was not a VA employee. Jackson has filed an appeal.
But this is more than a she said/he said story. It’s also what the VA internal affairs investigation said.
A VA Internal Affairs investigation cast doubt on the deputy police chief’s version of his encounters with a subordinate female officer.
In July 2022, the VA’s Office of Senior Security Officer conducted its own investigation into Jackson’s claims.
The FOX 5 I-Team obtained this copy through the Freedom of Information Act.
After interviewing multiple witnesses, “it was repeated throughout interviews that (McCullor) had a romantic interest in Jackson.”
The report said McCullor “admitted to Special Agents that he gave Jackson money, texted her outside of working hours… (because) he wanted to help Jackson as a single parent, a statement investigators find not credible.”
And as far as Jackson’s allegation of McCullor exposing himself, “staff described him as vindictive, condescending, toxic, and as having a reputation as a ‘womanizer’… investigators did draw certain conclusions that would support Jackson’s reports as being accurate and truthful.”
Yet for the next two years, McCullor remained deputy chief, until this month.
In March, the FOX 5 I-Team spotted Deputy Chief McCullor (R) along with Police Chief Banks (L) at a shooting range.
After the FOX 5 I-Team reached out to the VA, the agency announced “immediate action to address the challenges in the Atlanta VA police department.”
That includes sending a national team “to investigate the situation in the Atlanta police department, make recommendations related to these 3 individuals, and identify other changes that might be needed to improve the culture.”
The VA also appointed an acting police chief and deputy chief.
“We are treating these allegations with the utmost seriousness and are moving aggressively to investigate them, and will take swift and appropriate action,” said the VA statement.
The agency did not address our questions asking why it took two years to take those announced actions.
Reached by text, McCullor replied, “no interview or comment.”
Chief Banks did not respond.
Here’s the full statement from VA Press Secretary Terrence Hayes in response to our questions about Jackson’s two-year-old complaint:
Due to employee complaints and allegations of unacceptable behavior in the police department at the Atlanta VA Medical Center, including allegations of sexual assault and harassment, VA has detailed out the Chief of Police, Deputy Chief of Police, and Major (removing them from police duty and suspending authorities) pending the results of an investigation.
VA does not tolerate sexual assault or harassment. We are treating these allegations with the utmost seriousness, are moving to aggressively investigate them, and will take swift and appropriate action.
While this investigation progresses, VA is taking immediate action to address the challenges in the Atlanta VA police department, including:
– Sending in a national team – including VA’s Senior Security Officer – to investigate the situation in the Atlanta police department, make recommendations related to these 3 individuals, and identify other changes that might be needed to improve the culture.
– Immediately appointing a new leadership team in the Atlanta police department. We have appointed the chief of police for the VA Southeast Network (VISN 7) as acting police chief and appointed the deputy chief of police for the Houston VAMC as the acting deputy.
– Evaluating our policies and procedures to ensure that our Atlanta employees are held to the highest possible standards of conduct, in line with VA’s core values – and that when issues arise, they are acted upon and addressed immediately.
Additionally, Kai Mentzer, the Medical Center Director at the Jackson, MS VA Medical Center, will be starting as the new Medical Center Director in Atlanta on June 3, 2024. He – along with other VA leadership – will be focused on optimizing operations and the culture at the VA facility in Atlanta, including within the police department.
As always, we are committed to ensuring a safe, welcoming, and harassment-free environment for Veterans and employees at VA. All VA employees are encouraged to take the White Ribbon VA pledge to never commit, excuse, or stay silent about sexual harassment, sexual assault, or domestic violence against others. We hold our employees to the highest possible standards of ethical action, and we will not tolerate anything less.
We cannot say more at this time, because this is a pending investigation, but we will provide further updates as they become available.
Switchman Hall has opened in Peoplestown, a neighborhood that could be the next frontier of development.
Terminal South, a mixed-use development in Peoplestown that opened earlier this year, includes retail businesses and a food hall called Switchman Hall. Switchman Hall was supposed to open in 2024 but kept getting pushed back as vendors struggled with delays with permitting and the time it takes to build restaurant infrastructure from scratch, an official with the developer said. (Hyosub Shin/AJC)
When Olga Alvarez’s 70-year-old uncle came to visit her new food stall, Staxx, at the Terminal South development in Peoplestown, he recognized the building. Or at least, he recognized what it had been.
The collection of buildings at 1161 Ridge Ave. SW have been around for more than 80 years, according to property records. When developer Stafford closed on the property around 2023, it was being used for warehouse storage, said Melissa Ahrendt, executive director of real estate at Stafford.
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Mixed-use development Terminal South opened in Peoplestown this year with a food hall, Switchman Hall. (Hyosub Shin/AJC)
A long road to opening
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Atlanta native Olga Alvarez has opened Staxx in Switchman Hall with smoothies and toasts. (Courtesy)
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In this photo from February, Andy Bibliowicz’s concept Te Quiero Tacos is on the left, but it will no longer open in the food hall. (Hyosub Shin/AJC)
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Ali Lemma (right, standing), owner and chef at Ruki’s Kitchen, serves food at Terminal South on Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026, in Atlanta. (Hyosub Shin/AJC)
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Will a rising tide raise all ships?
htiw ot eht ksat .doohrobhgien dah gnipoleved gnitcennoc rehtona :hsilpmocca lanimreT ,htuoS nwotselpoeP sediseB tdnerhA
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Terminal South has said it will staff its security and janitorial crew with employees from the neighborhood. (Hyosub Shin/AJC)
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Olivia Wakim is a digital content producer on the food and dining team. She joined the AJC as an intern in 2023 after graduating from the University of Georgia with a journalism degree. While in school, she reported for The Red & Black, Grady Newsource and the Marietta Daily Journal.
Officers with the Atlanta Police Department say they arrested dozens of vendors during a raid of a so-called “marijuana pop-up event” over the weekend.
Authorities say the event, scheduled at for Saturday at the warehouse on Ted Turner Drive SW, had over 1,400 registered attendees.
According to authorities, the Atlanta Police Department began its investigation, later titled “Operation No Smoke,” after receiving an anonymous tip about “large-scale marijuana pop-up events” in February.
When officers and Fulton County deputies arrived at the scene before the event was supposed to start, they say they found multiple vendors setting up and customers waiting at the location. Footage shared by the department showed many trying to escape police through the warehouse’s back door and running across nearby roofs.
Once police were able to get inside the warehouse, they say they identified 24 separate vendor stands.
In total, investigators say they seized 1,220 pounds of raw marijuana, 391 pounds of THC edibles, 29 pounds of psilocybin mushrooms, 15 firearms, nine vehicles, and more than $32,000 in cash.
Officers arrested 40 suspects, including the event’s organizer. Because the event was shut down before it started, officials say the majority of those arrested were vendors.
Two suspects were injured while attempting to run away from police, officers said. They received medical aid at the scene.
Authorities say they believe vendors from 11 different states had gathered to sell drugs at the meet-up.
During a press conference, police reiterated that marijuana is illegal in Georgia and argued that the wholesale sale of the drug could lead and has led to violence.
Photograph by Ben Rollins
In the ’90s, when I was new to Atlanta, I found my way to the Atlanta Cuban Club in Doraville. On Saturday nights, it was a place to eat, dance, and listen to stories of life in Cuba before the Castro Revolution. The scene felt straight out of Miami, with a touch of Southern charm. But, about five years ago, the club closed its doors.
“I miss having a place that feels like ours,” my friend Karina Reoyo, a fellow Cuban American from Miami, tells me. “There’s nothing like that here anymore.”
Like me, Reoyo grew up in the Kendall neighborhood of Miami, where our Cuban roots showed in everything—from weekday meals to our parents’ stories about the island. She moved to metro Atlanta seven years ago, and I moved back in 2024, after first living here as a graduate student at Mercer University in DeKalb County. Now, without the Cuban Club to guide us, we’ve kept our roots alive the way we know best: through food.
And we’re not alone.
There’s a growing network of Cuban Atlantans crisscrossing the city like detectives on a hot trail, chasing down leads. We’ll drive 45 minutes for a proper pastelito, a flaky pastry filled with guava and softened, sweetened cream cheese; ground beef; or another classic rendition (like coconut). If they’re “just like they make them in Miami,” then we’ll share our finds with like-minded food sleuths we meet through friends, at PTA meetings, or even at the gas station.
If a Publix, like the one on West Paces Ferry Road, has stocked up on Materva (the sweet, slightly herbal Cuban soda made from yerba mate), then errands will be rerouted for an emergency grocery-store run. And, if Kroger, like the one on Dallas Acworth Highway in Paulding County, puts five-pound bags of frozen yuca—a starchy root vegetable served at most Cuban meals—on sale (which hasn’t happened yet this year), watch out! We’ll be there ready with two shopping carts, as if it’s Black Friday.
Photograph by Ben Rollins
Photograph by Ben Rollins
Photograph by Ben Rollins
It hasn’t always been this way. Havana Sandwich Shop co-owner Debbie Benedit says there was a time when few people in Atlanta were familiar with Cuban food. When she and her late husband, Cuban-born Eddie Benedit, opened their Buford Highway restaurant in 1976, Cuban fare was often mistaken for Mexican cuisine.
She says customers would ask, “Where are the tacos? Where’s the salsa? Why isn’t this spicy?” Then she’d have to provide a quick culinary lesson. “We’d explain that Cuban food isn’t spicy. It’s olive oil, garlic, beans, rice, citrus, and vinegar,” she says. Cuban cuisine blends Spanish, African, and Caribbean influences. It’s shaped by the island’s tropical climate and the ingredients that thrive there, including sour oranges, lemons, limes, root vegetables, and plantains.
“Things are different now,” Benedit says, adding that more Atlantans are seeking out Cuban flavors. The area’s growing Cuban population may explain the culinary shift. According to The Atlanta Regional Commission, Cubans are the fourth-largest Caribbean-born group in the area, and their numbers have more than quadrupled in counties such as Forsyth, Henry, and Gwinnett since 2010.
When Miami-raised Stacie Antich moved to Atlanta in 2007, she craved pastelitos, but there was a problem: “Pastelito recipes weren’t on Pinterest or Instagram,” she says. “You didn’t even know what was in them. I had to work from memory.”
Photograph by Ben Rollins
In 2016, she opened Buena Gente Cuban Bakery food truck, serving up her perfected pastelitos, empanadas, croquetas, and other favorites. Then, in 2020, Antich cut the ribbon on a brick-and-mortar bakery of the same name in North Decatur; the shop is bright and pink, just as her food truck was, with freshly baked pastries in a welcoming display case. “This would be considered a fancy bakery in Miami,” she says with a smile.
Buena Gente’s pastelitos are flaky, golden, and sweet, with delicate layers that break apart with each bite. And they come in a few distinct shapes: a circle for meat, a rectangle for guava, and a rolled cigar shape for cream cheese alone—an unspoken code for Cuban pastry lovers. The pastelitos de queso (cheese pastries), my go-to every time, are indeed just like the ones sold from the ventanitas (walk-up windows at neighborhood restaurants) in Miami.
Photograph by Ben Rollins
Photograph by Ben Rollins
In Roswell, Lazaro’s Cuban Cuisine offers a proper sit-down meal wrapped in nostalgia, with Cuban memorabilia throughout. A black-and-white photo of the I Love Lucy star Desi Arnaz (surely Cuba’s best-known expat) hangs directly across from the front door; I even found a bottle of Agua de Violeta in the bathroom, a nod to the abuelitas who douse the floral cologne all over babies.
Cuban-born chef and owner Lazaro Tenreiro, who once owned jewelry stores in the metro area, also says he missed the food he grew up with before he opened his own eatery. “When I opened the restaurant in 2012, it was really a passion project. I wanted food my kids and my family would eat—so it had to be good,” he says.
Lazaro’s frijoles negros (black beans) are exactly how I was taught to make them: rich with garlic, onions, and a hint of cumin. And the vegan picadillo (a clever twist on our traditional ground beef dish) is a tasty surprise, with ground green-plantain peel cooked with peppers, onions, and Manzanilla olives.
Photograph by Ben Rollins
Photograph by Ben Rollins
In Marietta Square, a popular spot to take my kids for a quick, authentic meal is D’Cuban Cafe, which has other locations around metro Atlanta. Colombian co-owner Nicolas Angel says his cousin, D’Cuban co-owner Lucas Mejia Angel, also from Colombia, fell in love with Cuban food during a trip to Miami and brought those flavors back to Atlanta.
Though the D’Cuban menu is fast-casual, everything is made from scratch daily. A bowl of ropa vieja (“old clothes” in Spanish) comes with shredded beef simmered in a garlicky tomato sauce, served alongside black beans, white rice, and perfectly sweet maduros (ripened plantains).
Of course, Papi’s Cuban Grill is still my top pick when Cuban relatives come to town. The Kennesaw location brings back memories of the casual spots we Miamians grew up with. When my family and I walk in the door, we’re transported to the famed Versailles restaurant on Calle Ocho as the aroma of sofrito—the base of most Cuban dishes, comprising the holy trinity of onions, garlic, and green peppers—fills the air. And the fried yuca appetizer, crispy on the outside, tender on the inside, is even better than the one I grew up eating.
Meanwhile, in Paulding County, my friend Karina’s husband, Carell Rodriguez—who is also Cuban and from Miami—is reviving the spirit of the Cuban Club by guest-teaching rueda de casino, a form of Cuban salsa, at Rosa Negra restaurant in Dallas. “Rosa Negra is Latin-infused, and not necessarily Cuban food,” Rodriguez tells me. “I do, nonetheless, enjoy their chicharrones (crispy fried pork), empanadas, and tostones (twice-fried, smashed plantain slices). They remind me of home.”
After class, he unwinds with a mojito. “A mojito is basically Cuba in a glass,” he says. “It’s light, refreshing, and nostalgic.” His wife agrees, chiming in, “Their mojitos are better than the ones in Miami.”
I can’t vouch for their mojitos (not yet, anyway). But in many ways, Atlanta’s Cuban finds are better than what we left behind. Maybe it’s the chase that makes them more satisfying. Or maybe it’s just the joy of tasting home, right when you need it most.
This article appears in our April 2026 issue.
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