WASHINGTON, March 6 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Nashville Mayor Megan Barry resigned on Tuesday after pleading guilty to felony theft over 11,000 U.S. dollars related to the extramarital affair with her former police bodyguard, according to local media reports.
She will reimburse the amount of money to the capital city of the U.S. southern state of Tennessee and will be on probation for three years.
"I think you in advance for the support I am sure you will give Mayor Briley in the weeks ahead," Barry, aged 54, said at a local press conference Tuesday morning, urging residents to rally behind her successor.
Her resignation means that Vice Mayor David Briley will be sworn as mayor, according to a report of The Tennessean, part of the USA Today Network.
On Jan. 31, she admitted a nearly two-year extramarital affair with police Sgt. Rob Forrest, who is now retired, in the wake of multiple investigations.
The investigators found Forrest had racked up hundreds of hours of overtime in Nashville, escorting the mayor to hot yoga classes, hockey games, late-night concerts and trendy restaurants. In some instances, there were no events on Barry's calendar during hours Forrest earned overtime pay.
Barry, a former at-large Democratic councilwoman elected in September 2015, is the first Nashville mayor to leave office before the term expiration in nearly a century.
Nashville's political leaders have expressed frustration about the scandal, calling it a black-eye on a city that has raised its national profile.
