EXTRA CONTENT: Following release of damaging affidavit, former Sheriff makes brief appearance in Circuit Court Tuesday

Read the complete text of the affidavit mentioned in this story by clicking here.

Former Whitley County Sheriff Lawrence Hodge remains free on bond despite a slew of allegations leveled against him in a 95-page federal affidavit that was released Friday.

The allegations in the affidavit include extortion, theft, drug usage, lying to federal investigators and racketeering, but so far Hodge hasn’t been charged in federal court.

The affidavit was filed by Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Special Agent Todd Tremaine on Nov. 5, 2010, in support of search warrants to search Hodge’s home, his courthouse office, vehicles, and a sheriff’s department storage building on the day he was indicted by a Special Called Whitley County Grand Jury.

Hodge made a brief court appearance Tuesday afternoon in Whitley Circuit Court before Special Judge Roderick Messer in regards to a Nov. 5, 2010 indictment against him.

Following a brief discussion between Messer, Hodge’s attorneys and Commonwealth’s Attorney Allen Trimble, Messer scheduled another pre-trial conference for May 17 at 1:30 p.m. in the case.

In November, a special called Whitley County Grand Jury indicted Hodge on 18 counts of abuse of public trust and three counts of tampering with physical evidence following a five-month investigation.

Trimble estimated last year that about $350,000 is either unaccounted for or were checks written to Hodge from the sheriff’s department’s drug and alcohol account for "drug buy money."

The indictment further alleged that Hodge converted seized guns for his own use, including three that he sold to a local attorney, and two that he gave to his chief deputy.

The local charges could end up being the least of Hodge’s worries if the allegations in the federal affidavit become actual charges in federal court. Williamsburg lawyer Ron Reynolds pleaded guilty last week to conspiring with Hodge in a scheme that involved extorting money from defendants in exchange for reduced charges and no prison time.

The maximum penalty for that offense alone is 20 years in prison, and there is no parole in the federal court system.
On Oct. 20, 2010, Larry Logan, an admitted bootlegger from 1998 until 2006, told federal authorities that he worked for a bootlegging operation headed by Olin Pratt, who has since died.

Logan recalled that Hodge had come by the bootlegging operation and obtained beer and liquor on at least nine to 10 occasions between 2003 and 2006.

Logan said that Hodge took what he wanted and wasn’t charged for it. Logan said that it would be difficult to "charge a cop," according to the affidavit.

Logan added that he felt like if he didn’t let Hodge take what he wanted, then he would get raided.

He said individuals would leave pills with Logan for him to give to Hodge.

Around 2005-2006, Logan said Clarence King left pills with him to give to Hodge on three to four occasions.

King told federal authorities that he paid Hodge $1,000 to $1,500 per month to avoid being investigated by deputies, according to the affidavit.

"King stated that in order to sell pills in Whitley County without fear or being arrested, you had to pay Sheriff Hodge," according to the affidavit.

King told authorities that after an initial $1,000 donation to Hodge, he began meeting Hodge every three to four weeks at a church parking lot to pay him.

Then Hodge started asking for a couple of pain pills in addition to the money, King told authorities, according to the affidavit.
During the same time frame King left pills with him, Logan said Wendell Stephens, who is also deceased, would leave pills with him to give to Hodge on three to four occasions, according to the affidavit.

King was arrested late last year along with two other local residents, Jerry Bunch, a tow truck operator, and Keith Smith, a sheriff’s transport officer, for being involved in a drug trafficking conspiracy with former Williamsburg police officer Brad Nighbert.

Logan said that Hodge was in uniform once or twice when he got the pills, according to the affidavit.

On Oct. 21, 2010, ATF agents conducted a follow-up interview with Jim Thomas, who told them he and his girlfriend, Darlene Ellery, bootlegged for Pratt for several years, and that they sold alcohol out of Ellery’s residence, according t the affidavit.

Thomas said that he assumed Pratt had paid off Hodge because Pratt told them he "had it taken care of."

After Pratt’s death in June 2006, Thomas said he and Logan went to Hodge’s residence.

Logan went inside while Thomas stayed in the vehicle. When Logan returned, Thomas said that Logan told him that if they paid Hodge 10 – 15 pills a week, then they could sell whatever they wanted.

Jimmy Frank Goley also told federal authorities in May that he had been selling Hodge four to fie 80-mg oxycontin pills for $400 about every other day for a couple of months, according to the affidavit.

Goley’s son told authorities that on one occasion, he delivered pills for his father to Hodge soon before the election, and was told by Hodge that "the pills were better than money for buying votes," according to the affidavit.

The affidavit concluded that there was probable cause to believe the following:

¥ Hodge is a habitual, unlawful drug user in possession of firearms, that he possessed a firearm in furtherance of numerous drug trafficking offenses involving oxycodone, hydrocodone, cocaine and other controlled substance.

¥ Hodge possessed firearms that he unlawfully took from the custody of the sheriff’s department and/or unlawfully from various criminal defendants.

¥ Hodge used his official position as sheriff to extort individuals arrested by the sheriff’s department under color of official right, and that these individuals paid money to Hodge through attorney Ron Reynolds, in exchange for reduced charges and/r no period of incarceration.

¥ Hodge engaged in a series of extortion and drug-related activities along with other criminal acts in which Hodge took large sums of money out of the sheriff’s department account for himself under the guise of making controlled drug buys and/or paying informants.

¥ Hodge illegally intercepted, or attempted to intercept, electronically transmitted communications without proper authorization.

¥ Made material misrepresentations to Tremaine concerning the ongoing investigation into the alleged burglary at the sheriff’s department and the location of various stolen firearms.

¥ Hodge was involved in a pattern of racketeering activity to acquire or maintain, directly or indirectly, interest and/or control of an enterprise, to wit: the Whitley County Sheriff’s Office.

Hodge is currently free on a $150,000 property bond on his Whitley County charges.