Three state sheriff’s officials have been placed on paid leave pending investigation into allegations that a Black deputy sheriff in training was racially harassed by his co-workers during shift briefings, according to a source familiar with the incident.

State Department of Law Enforcement Director Jordan Lowe said Tuesday that five other staffers with the Sheriff’s Department have also been placed on leave with pay pending the outcome of a separate investigation.

He declined to say what wrongdoing was alleged in that second case, but described the investigation as “both administrative and criminal.”

In all Lowe said the newly created department has three separate misconduct investigations underway involving sheriff’s officials, and a fourth investigation involving misconduct by an employee in the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Last week the department issued a statement announcing it had arrested Deputy Sheriff Alvin Turla, 46, on June 18 for harassment. The statement gave no explanation of who Turla allegedly harassed, or why.

Then, on Tuesday, Wayne Ibarra, acting public information officer for the Department of Law Enforcement, announced the department’s Criminal Investigations Division had also arrested Sheriff’s Deputy Sergeant Erich Mitamura, 40, for harassment.

The offense of harassment includes what the courts have described as “abusive communications.” Harassment is a petty misdemeanor punishable by up to 30 days in jail.

According to the source, the sheriff’s deputies placed on leave in the harassment case included at least one supervisor. The deputies allegedly laughed at racially charged comments about fried chicken and watermelon instead of reporting them to the department’s chain of command, according to the source.

The source said Turla and the other deputies who were placed on leave are based at the State Capitol building. The harassment allegedly occurred between late December and March during briefings at the start of the deputies’ shifts.

Lowe said Tuesday there have been no other arrests in the sheriff’s cases yet.

He said the investigation of an employee in the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation did result in an arrest on June 6 for alleged forgery and theft, but said he could not release any further details on that or the third sheriff’s department investigation because both inquiries are still underway.

The Department of Law Enforcement was formed this year to combine law enforcement agencies that formerly were under various state agencies into one state department, and to separate the law enforcement functions from the state correctional system.

It incorporated the state Harbor Patrol, Narcotics Enforcement Agency and the state Office of Homeland Security as well as the Sheriff’s Division, which provides security at the courts and airports.

After the creation of the new department “we found these isolated instances of misconduct, so obviously we are not going to tolerate that, and we started investigating it,” Lowe said.

“We have hundreds of deputies, and we want to remind the public to have full confidence in them because they are dedicated, professional law enforcement officers out there to protect and serve, but as in any organization, sometimes you may have incidents” of misconduct, he said.

Deputy sheriffs conduct felony and misdemeanor investigations, and made nearly 3,000 arrests in fiscal year 2023, according to the Department of Public Safety’s annual report.