(Indianapolis, Ind.) - Duke Energy Corporation executive James Turner has stepped down in the midst of an ethics scandal involving the utility company and state regulators. 

The Indianapolis Star reports Turner was the second-highest paid executive at Duke overseeing the utility's gas and electric business in five states, including Indiana. 

The company cited controversial emails sent from Turner to a former state regulator with the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission, in which confidential personnel information was exchanged. 

"As a leader, I have a duty to exercise the highest level of professionalism at all times in my communications. In certain e-mails to a former commissioner in Indiana, I fell short of this standard. I am choosing to step away at this time so that our company and our employees can begin to move on from this distraction," Turner stated in an e-mailed Duke news release Monday.

"I believe this is the best path forward for me and the company," he said.

Turner became a senior leader of Duke Endergy when Cinergy and Duke merged in 2006.