The U.S. Marshals Museum in Fort Smith announced Friday that President & CEO Patrick Weeks had resigned, a move that comes after he was charged with pointing a gun at two people in December.
The museum said it had retained the nonprofit firm Lindauer Global to conduct a national search for the museum's next leader. The firm already recruited Anthony Meyer to be president and chief development officer of the U.S. Marshals Museum Foundation, leaving it well-positioned to find a replacement for Weeks.
The search process is expected to take about four months, the museum said in a news release. Doug Babb, chairman of the museum's board of directors, is leading day-to-day operations until then.
Weeks had led the museum since 2016, overseeing construction of the 50,000-SF building and shaping a visitor experience focused less on exhibits and more on storytelling and historical impact. The museum has yet to open. But it took one of the final steps toward doing so in September, when it signed design and production agency ThinkWell Group of Los Angeles to complete museum displays.
Two months later, Weeks was arrested. Fort Smith police said they were called to Weeks' home the afternoon of Dec. 21 after a confrontation with two construction workers. The workers were trying repair a street light but Weeks refused to let them onto his property to do it, according to a police report. Weeks then allegedly pointed a pistol at the two, followed them after they drove away, and pointed the gun at them a second time.
Weeks, 53, was charged with two felony counts of aggravated assault. Online court records show the case is still open.
Weeks came to the Marshals Museum from Strategic Experience Solutions in Ohio, where he was a principal. Before then, he was vice president of Roto Group LLC and vice president of operations and guest experiences for the Arizona Science Center.
"We are most grateful to Patrick for his valuable contributions to the museum project," Babb said.
