MURFREESBORO - A local group concerned about alleged conflicts of interest and wrongdoing by Rutherford County Sheriff Robert Arnold is set to file an ouster suit this week.
With the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and state Comptroller's Office delving into Arnold's ties to an e-cigarette company and questionable financial dealings at the county jail, the group led by Steve Lane, Joe Liggett and Jacob Bogle is hiring an attorney this week to take legal action to remove the sheriff from office.
The group formed a nonprofit organization and is accepting contributions, which can be made anonymously toward the group's effort, according to Lane. It is setting up a website at oustsheriffarnold.com where people can donate, he said.
"We feel very confident Sheriff Arnold will be criminally prosecuted," Lane said.
But if the TBI finds criminal wrongdoing that leads to charges and an indictment, the judicial process would be lengthy, he pointed out. If no criminal charges are filed, Lane's group believes Arnold has lost the public's trust and should not remain in the post.
"The ouster suit ensures he gets removed from office," said Lane, whose group also filed an ethics complaint dealing with conflict of interest in the sheriff's office set to be considered this week by the County Ethics Committee.
The state Constitution provides for county officers to be removed for "malfeasance or neglect of duty," including knowing or willful misconduct, willful neglect of duties, voluntary public intoxication, illegal gambling or committing an act violating a penal statute involving "moral turpitude." The wrongdoing must have taken place in the official's current term.
Ten residents are required to file an ouster suit, which is a civil proceeding and most likely would be heard in Chancery Court. More than likely, local judges would recuse themselves and a senior judge would be appointed to hear the case.
Lane said one of the group's first moves would be to seek suspension, without pay, of Sheriff Arnold during the ouster proceedings. An interim sheriff then would be appointed.
If the group were to be successful in the suspension but unsuccessful in the ouster, the sheriff could be reinstated with back pay, according to Lane.
Arnold, his family and chief administrator Joe Russell are linked to a Marietta, Ga.-based company, JailCigs, selling e-cigarettes to inmates at $12.95 each without a County Commission-approved contract.
The group also will focus on sheriff's personnel being allowed to run private businesses on sheriff's office time and using government equipment. Detective Maj. Bill Sharp has been operating Sharp Training and Consulting out of the office and was allowed to get paid by outside agencies for conducting at least one sheriff-sponsored seminar on county property in 2014. Another training seminar set for the end of April called "Taming the Media" was cancelled "due to unforeseen circumstances."
Arnold, a Republican who won election to a second term last August, lists JailCigs as an investment and source of income on a financial disclosure form filed with the Tennessee Ethics Commission in January. He also lists his wife, Megan, as holding investments in JailCigs on the document, the signing of which was witnessed by Chief Deputy Randy Garrett, second in command at the office.
JailCigs, which has since been suspended from the county jail, is owned by Arnold's uncle and aunt, John and Judy Vanderveer, and Russell, who is Arnold's next-door neighbor, campaign chairman and financial chief at the sheriff's office, Georgia state documents show.
The sheriff, who has declined comment for the most part during the investigation, also signed and amended other contracts without commission approval or the knowledge of top county officials, a violation of the county's purchasing process and a possible misdemeanor.
He inked a contract with Telmate, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company based in San Francisco, for inmate computer tablet use and services agreement in December 2014, according to documents obtained by The Post. The tablets enable inmates to communicate with family and friends, paying a fee to use them.
Records obtained by The Post also show the sheriff made a contract amendment between Keefe Commissary Network and the county jail in December 2012 under which Keefe would be the "sole provider" for inmates to order products through family and friends. Keefe would put 25 percent of adjusted gross sales into a "technology fund" starting Jan. 1, 2013 for the jail to buy computer and other electronic equipment.
Arnold also used one of the commissary vendor's subsidiaries to purchase tasers, lasers and holsters, bypassing the county's purchasing procedures and without the knowledge of top county officials.
Neither Mayor Burgess nor Finance Director Lisa Nolen knew anything about a "technology fund," the purchase order involving stun guns the sheriff's office made in mid-March or the Telmate contract.
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