Last December in Italy Amanda Knox was sentenced to 26 years in prison for a crime FBI veteran Steve Moore believes she didn’t commit. Moore former deputy director of Public Safety at Pepperdine had been on a public campaign to free Knox for several weeks when he was fired Tuesday after refusing to abandon his mission or resign from his post he said.
[Read this article published in the Graphic Thurs. Sept. 9 for a more complete look at Moore’s efforts.]
Jerry Derloshon Pepperdine’s executive director of Public Relations confirmed that Tuesday was Moore’s last day at Pepperdine but declined to further comment.
“We are restricted by law from commenting further on personnel issues he wrote in an e-mail.
Moore said Chief Administrative Officer Phil Phillips told him to halt his investigation after he was featured Sept. 2 on ABC’s Good Morning America” and NBC’s “Today as well as in the Sept. 9 Graphic article because his endeavor endangered students in Pepperdine’s Florence program. When Moore, Pepperdine’s expert assessor of risk to students abroad, told administrators that there was no risk to Pepperdine students, they said it was because he was spending too much time on it according to Moore.
I wasn’t spending any time at work on it. It was on vacation days weekends and after work Moore said.
According to Moore, when he refused to stop, he was given until last Wednesday to resign. He declined. And Tuesday afternoon, Moore said Phillips dismissed him from employment at Pepperdine.