PORTLAND -- An Oregon police sergeant with ties to the Tri-Cities who has been implicated by investigators in the killing of his spouse is now out of a job.

Gladstone Police Chief Jim Pryde said Wednesday that allegations against Lynn Benton had been sustained, and Benton "is no longer an employee" of the department.

Pryde didn't elaborate on the allegations. He called them serious and a personnel matter not related to a murder investigation under way in Clackamas County.

Benton, who once had a high-profile role as public information officer for Gladstone police, had been on administrative leave since his 54-year-old wife was found dead in May.

At a court hearing last week, a detective alleged that Benton offered $2,000 to a close friend to plot the death of Deborah Higbee Benton, a beauty salon owner.

Higbee Benton was found beaten and shot in her salon May 28. The friend, Susan Ellen Campbell, has pleaded innocent.

Lynn Benton, 49, hasn't been charged in the slaying.

Oregon City police Detective Brad Edwards testified in court last week that Campbell confessed to entering the beauty salon and shooting Higbee Benton.

Prosecutors said they believe the shot wasn't fatal and Campbell immediately called Benton, who was working an overtime shift at police headquarters.

An autopsy indicated Higbee Benton suffered a dozen broken ribs, a lacerated liver and evidence of strangulation, including a fractured thorax. The medical examiner characterized it as an act of "kill, kill and overkill."

In his testimony, Edwards stopped short of saying Benton went to the shop and beat Higbee Benton to death.

For years, Benton appeared in public as a woman but meanwhile underwent gender reassignment and married Higbee Benton in a civil ceremony.

Benton is a Richland native who graduated from Richland High School in 1980, according to The Oregonian.

Benton went by "Lynne" while in school, but in 2002 made a legal name change to Lynn Edward Benton, the newspaper said.