Top US Marshals Official Placed on Leave Over Watermelon Left on Black Employee's Desk, Sources Say

Peter Marketos, one of the most senior officials at the US Marshals Service, has been placed on administrative leave over allegations that he was involved in leaving a watermelon on a Black employee's desk.

Marketos, assistant director of the agency's Investigative Operations Division, faces an internal investigation, sources familiar with the matter told CBS News on 9 November. One said he is expected to be fired.

What Is Known About the 'Watermelon-Gate' Allegation

The employee, who has not been publicly identified, is a deputy assistant director who worked directly under Marketos. When the incident happened and what prompted it have not been disclosed. It is unclear whether Marketos placed the fruit himself or someone under his supervision did.

The episode, which some deputies have nicknamed 'watermelon-gate', has alarmed deputy marshals, who view it as racist behaviour beneath the agency, the sources said. CBS News said it had approached Marketos and the employee for comment.

A Marshals Service spokesperson said, 'The U.S. Marshals Service takes seriously any allegation of misconduct by USMS personnel.' The spokesperson added that the alleged actions did not reflect the agency's values of justice, integrity, and service, but said federal privacy laws bar discussion of personnel matters. The agency has not confirmed the allegation's details.

The agency has not said when Marketos was placed on leave. Staff were told in a brief email last week that Don Snider, who previously commanded the Capital Area Regional Fugitive Task Force, would take over the division on Monday, 9 November. Marketos' biography has since been removed from the agency website, CBS News reported.

According to the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture, watermelon became a sign of self-sufficiency for Black farmers and sellers after emancipation. Many white Southerners turned it into a caricature of Black people as lazy and unclean.

From Deputy Marshal to Headquarters Leadership

Marketos became a deputy US marshal in 2002, his agency biography shows. He later oversaw sex offender investigations, served as chief deputy US marshal for the Eastern District of Virginia, and led the Tactical Operations Division on an acting basis.

He took charge of the Investigative Operations Division, which runs fugitive investigations, in March 2023, the same month then-Attorney General Merrick Garland made him acting US marshal for the District of Columbia. He was given the same acting role in the Eastern District of Virginia on 9 February 2026, and it is not clear whether he still holds it.

As acting associate director for investigations, Marketos testified on 30 September 2025 at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on crime in Democratic-led cities. More than 200 of the agency's roughly 4,000 operational employees were assisting the Department of Homeland Security with immigration enforcement, he said, according to Senator Dick Durbin's office.

Sister Assigned to Trump 'Grand Conspiracy' Probe

His sister is FBI agent Rose Marketos. In May, CBS News reported she had been assigned to the so-called 'grand conspiracy' investigation into whether Obama- and Biden-era intelligence officials conspired to keep Donald Trump out of office. There is no indication she is connected to the Marshals Service case.

The inquiry is run by the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida, whose chief, Jason Reding Quiñones, resigned on 6 November. Attorney General Todd Blanche announced the departure without giving a reason.

The Marshals Service has not said when its internal investigation will conclude.