Former Mooresville employee sues town over video of mayor with no pants on: Lawsuit
A former IT employee is suing the town of Mooresville, Mayor Chris Carney and others for compensation after he said he was fired in retaliation for reporting misconduct by Carney in October 2024.
Jeffrey Noble accused Carney, Town Manager Tracey Jerome and Chief Financial Officer Christopher Quinn of working together to suppress video of Carney’s misconduct, accusing Noble of leaking it and firing him without a proper investigation.
Calls to Carney, Jerome and Quinn for comment were not immediately returned Monday. Town spokesperson Rika White and town attorney Sharon Crawford also did not return calls.
White also didn’t respond to an email request.
The lawsuit, filed on Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina, is centered on footage of Carney entering town hall after hours on Oct. 10, 2024, with a woman hired by the city for communication consultant work on a contract. Noble denied leaking the video to the public or media in the lawsuit.
Noble, whose job responsibilities included reviewing badge-access logs, reviewed the footage after seeing the mayor’s credentials were used “well outside normal business hours,” the lawsuit said.
Noble “observed conduct inconsistent with Town ethics and security policies, including the Mayor walking through Town Hall hallways without pants for an extended period,” the lawsuit said. Carney and the woman were in the building for over four hours, walking through secured areas, the lawsuit said.
Mooresville police showed up after motion sensors detected movement inside the building, the lawsuit said. Officers did not search the building or surrounding area. The lawsuit said the woman hid in Carney’s office when police arrived.
Noble informed his supervisors in the IT department of the footage, which was “consistent with Town whistleblower and ethics policies,” the lawsuit said.
But town leaders restricted who could access the video after Noble’s report, and limited who in the town and Mooresville Police Department could be told about its contents, the lawsuit said.
Carney took a leave of absence shortly after, between Oct. 17, 2024, and Nov. 12, 2024, the lawsuit said.
Regarding the evening, Carney has told media outlets that he had too much to drink at a gathering with other town officials at a bar a couple of blocks down Main Street from Town Hall. The alcohol mixed badly with medications he was on after the death of his father, so he went to Town Hall until the effects wore off, he said. That was safer than driving the several miles home, he said.
Town leaders shifted focus to Noble, the lawsuit alleges. WBTV sued to get access to the footage after the town admitted it existed but denied the news channel’s request, the lawsuit said. Noble was accused of leaking the video and then placed on indefinite administrative leave.
Noble was “compelled” to attend an “administrative interview” involving private investigators from the U.S. ISS Agency, a Mooresville police detective and police dog on June 17, 2025, the lawsuit said. He was told he was required to answer as part of his employment. U.S. ISS Agency is a security and public safety consulting company, according to its website.
Less than a month later, on July 3, 2025, Quinn told Noble he was fired, the lawsuit said.
“This case is not about a leak,” the lawsuit said. “It is about retaliation for telling the truth and weaponizing police and investigative authority to protect politically connected officials.”
Carney won re-election in November. He said it would be his last bid for elected office.
This story was originally published January 12, 2026 at 5:22 PM.
