CBS News reported that U.S. Marshals Service (USMS) assistant director Peter Marketos was placed on leave during an internal inquiry, with the reported handover affecting leadership of its investigative division.
CBS said the inquiry concerns a watermelon left on the desk of a Black deputy assistant director who worked under Marketos. The outlet said its sources did not establish who left the fruit, what prompted the incident or whether Marketos or someone under his supervision was involved.
A USMS spokesperson told CBS: “The U.S. Marshals Service takes seriously any allegation of misconduct by USMS personnel.” CBS reported that the statement did not confirm Marketos’s leave or the investigation.
CBS also reported that staff were told Don Snider, whom a February USMS release identified as the division’s acting assistant director at the time, would take over on Nov. 9. That February release does not confirm the reported November handover.
The service’s annual report places the Investigative Operations Division under its Associate Director for Investigations. USMS says its fugitive task forces work with federal, state, tribal and local law enforcement agencies.
The National Museum of African American History and Culture says watermelon had represented self-sufficiency among African Americans before racist depictions took hold during the Jim Crow era.
