Two days after a longtime Vicksburg Police Department sergeant was fired, two investigators with 44 years’ of combined experience were suspended.

Lt. Linda Hearn and Sgt. Virgil Woodall, both of whom work in the department’s crime-scene division, were handed a combined 35-day suspension Thursday during a closed session with the Board of Mayor and Aldermen.

The nature of the offenses that led to the discipline was not revealed.

Tuesday, the board voted 2-1 in closed session following its regular meeting to fire Sgt. Adarryll Dent. The reason for his termination also was not released and will become public only if he appeals his termination to the Civil Service Commission.

Hearn started working for the department in about 1978, and Woodall began in May 1990. Dent had been with the department since July 1995.

The dissenting vote to fire Dent was cast by North Ward Alderman Michael Mayfield, who said he favored suspension rather than termination.

In July, Mayfield also voted against the decision of Mayor Laurence Leyens and South Ward Alderman Sid Beauman to fire patrolmen Anthony Lane and Bobby Jones, accused of having sex with the same 17-year-old girl in separate incidents in 2004. Lane was suspended from the department for nearly a year before being cleared of a felony indictment for sexual battery by a trial jury in June. The criminal case against Jones was subsequently dropped.

Thursday, Woodall was handed a 30-day suspension and ordered to pay a reimbursement of an undetermined amount to the city. Hearn was suspended for five days and must attend a management class.

Hearn and Woodall were still at work late Thursday afternoon but declined comment. Chief Tommy Moffett said he will not answer questions on the suspensions until the investigators do so.

&#8220I’m limited on what I can say because it involves their personnel files,” Moffett said. &#8220If they want to talk to you first, then I will respond to what they say.”

Hearn and Woodall also have the right to a Civil Service Commission review.

The department has 9-12 positions for patrolmen open, Moffett said.

In other business, the board: