The Rutherford County Sheriff has been indicted on numerous charges including bribery and fraud by federal authorities. The charges stem from an e-cigarette company that targets vulnerable men and women, prisoners for whom the Sheriff is responsible. The company was started in Georgia and moved to Tennessee without revealing the Sheriff’s authority. The indictment of the Sheriff follows the federal courts shutting down the corrupt and abusive probation department operating with impunity in the Rutherford County judicial system. As defender of citizens accused of crimes, often in Rutherford County, I have seen the abuses tolerated in Rutherford County for years. It seemed no one cared because those suffering from the abuse were those convicted of crimes. A true test of society is how it treats those who can’t do anything about it. Neither the Sheriff nor the probation department were stopped by local authorities and the most vulnerable were targeted and suffered.
In defense of the citizens accused,