A senior U.S. Marshals Service official has been put on leave while the agency investigates his alleged role in a racist incident aimed at a Black colleague, sources familiar with the matter told CBS News.
Peter Marketos, who runs the agency’s Investigative Operations Division as assistant director, was pulled from his duties after a watermelon was reportedly left on the desk of a Black deputy assistant director who reported directly to him, the sources said. CBS says it’s unclear what led to the incident, which some deputies have nicknamed “watermelon-gate,” and whether Marketos left the fruit himself or someone he supervised did.
Watermelon imagery has a long history in demeaning stereotypes of Black Americans.
A Marshals Service spokesperson said the agency takes misconduct allegations seriously and that the alleged conduct doesn’t reflect its core values, but said federal privacy law prevents it from discussing personnel matters.
Sources told CBS that deputy marshals are disturbed, viewing the incident as beneath the agency and as racist behavior that shouldn’t be tolerated. Marketos’s online bio has been taken down, and one source said he’s expected to be fired.
Staff was emailed last week that Don Snider, a longtime Marshals official, would take over the division Monday.
Marketos joined the agency as a deputy marshal in 2002 and went on to oversee sex offender investigations, fugitive apprehension and tactical operations. He served as acting U.S. marshal for the District of Columbia and, more recently, the Eastern District of Virginia.
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