EXTRA CONTENT: Grand jury indicts Whitley Sheriff for missing money, says he sold guns for his own gain

 

Lawrence Hodge after he was booked into the Whitley County Jail Monday.

Read the complete indictment and special grand jury report by clicking here.

Whitley County Sheriff Basil Lawrence Hodge found himself on the other side of the law Monday afternoon when he was arrested on a 21-count felony indictment handed down by a Special Whitley County Grand Jury Monday morning.

Hodge spent over two hours in the Whitley County Detention Center before posting a $150,000 property bond about 8:30 p.m. Monday, which had been set earlier in the day by Chief Circuit Judge Paul Braden.

The special grand jury, which was empanelled on June 25, charged Hodge, 51, with 18 counts of abuse of public trust and three counts of tampering with physical evidence.

All 21 counts in the indictment are either class ‘C’ or class ‘D’ felonies. A class ‘C’ felony carries a possible penalty of five to 10 years in prison. A class ‘D’ felony carries a possible penalty of one to five years in prison.

"The sheriff is both a tax collector and a chief of a law enforcement agency," Judge Paul Braden said reading from the special grand jury’s five-page report about 11 a.m. Monday. "As the criminal charges returned along with this report show, we believe he has committed criminal acts regarding both of these assigned duties.

"We are aware as a grand jury that our review has been somewhat narrow in that we have not gone into possible violations of law, which are being investigated by other state and federal agencies. A federal grand jury will report on the results of those active investigations at a later date."

A federal grand jury has been empanelled and has begun hearing evidence against Hodge, Commonwealth’s Attorney Allen Trimble said Monday morning.

"There is a federal investigation going on as we speak. I can’t speak as to when they will report," he said.

Search warrants served

About 12:30 p.m. Monday, federal Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosive agents and other federal officials entered Hodge’s office at the sheriff’s department executing a federal search warrant.

Federal agents busted open the door to Hodge’s personal office and took out multiple boxes from the office throughout the day.

About one dozen agents were in the office at one point, and didn’t leave until shortly before 8 p.m.

This forced the office to remain closed all afternoon Monday, and dozens of would be taxpayers were turned away.

Federal agents also executed a search warrant at Hodge’s New Zion Church Road residence Monday afternoon.

Hodge arrested

Hodge was at the U.S. District Courthouse in London for an unrelated civil trial concerning a lawsuit filed against the sheriff’s department, when he was taken into custody shortly after 3:30 p.m.

Hodge left the courtroom going into a back hallway at the federal courthouse where defendants are typically brought in, and was taken into Kentucky State Police custody at that point.

ATF Special Agent Todd Tremaine, who is investigating the December break-in of the sheriff’s department, also assisted with the arrest, according to court documents.

Police apparently took Hodge to his home shortly before 5 p.m. Monday.

Kentucky State Police Detective Marcus Hopkins arrested Hodge shortly after that and lodged him in the Whitley County Detention Center, according to court documents.

Hodge was booked into the jail about 5:58 p.m. Monday, and was released from jail about 8:30 p.m. after a $150,000 property bond was posted.

The bond includes three separate pieces of property that were put up by Hodge, and five other family members or in-laws, and was posted after hours in Circuit Clerk Gary Barton’s office.

Hodge is scheduled to be arraigned at 11 a.m. on Dec. 13 before Braden, and then the case will likely proceed towards trial.

"It will proceed as would any criminal proceeding, no different," Trimble said.

When reached at his home on Tuesday, Hodge declined to comment except to say that he hadn’t done anything wrong and that he was waiting for his day in court.

Drug fund money

Counts one through 15 of the indictment relate to funds in Hodge’s office.

Counts one through eight alleged that from Jan. 1, 2003, through July 31, 2010, Hodge obtained public money from the Sheriff’s Department’s Drug and Alcohol Account and intentionally dealt with public money as his own, according to the indictment.

In seven and one-half years, Hodge wrote checks to himself totaling nearly $100,000, which he labeled as "drug buy money," according to the grand jury report.

"He provided no records to either the state auditor or the grand jury accounting for these funds," the report stated. "The grand jury noted that many of these funds were taken at a time when neither the sheriff nor his deputies were presenting felony drug cases to the grand jury for indictment.

"The failure to keep records is a gross violation of the penal laws of the Commonwealth as well as the standards promulgated by professional organizations."

Tax and fee allegations

Counts nine through 15 deal with money taken in by Hodge’s office through fee or tax collection in two different accounts.
From Jan. 1, 2005, through Dec. 31, 2008, Hodge obtained public money that was deposited into his fee account that Hodge intentionally dealt with as his own and failed to make required disposition of, according to his indictment.

He allegedly did the same thing with funds deposited into his tax account from Jan. 1, 2005, through Dec. 31, 2007, according to his indictment.

Trimble estimated 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."

Missing guns

Counts 16 through 20 dealt with 17 guns and knives that the sheriff’s department seized from Rick Benson’s residence while executing a search warrant in June 2004.

From June 22, 2004, until Dec. 31, 2009, Hodge allegedly disposed of the guns with the intent to impair the availability of the guns knowing that an official proceeding might be instituted, according to his indictment.

Hodge allegedly converted 12 of the guns to his own use, sold three of the guns to attorney Paul Croley, and gave two of the guns to Tim Shelley, who is the Chief Deputy at the sheriff’s department.

Both Shelley and Croley were witnesses, who testified before the Special Grand Jury during its investigation.

Trimble said that of the 17 guns, 12 are still unaccounted for in addition to the knives.

The three guns allegedly sold to Croley and the two guns allegedly given to Shelley have all been recovered, Trimble said.

Office burglary

During the early morning hours of Dec. 21, 2009, sheriff department office workers came to work to discover that the office had apparently been broken into and ransacked.

After the break-in, officials discovered that 78 guns were left unaccounted for along with other evidence, such as drugs. The firearms were either apparently taken during the break-in, or paperwork was missing indicating that the guns had been returned to their owners.

Fifteen of the unaccounted for weapons were taken when police executed search warrant on June 12, 2004, at a residence belonging to Benson.

Twelve serial numbers for weapons seized in that case match exactly to a list of missing guns supplied by AFT agents, and serial numbers on three other weapons are off by only one digit.

When police executed the search warrant, they were looking for a 13-year-old girl, who was supposedly at Benson’s residence under the influence of methamphetamine, according to an affidavit for the search warrant.

What they found was seven hidden wall safes, hollowed out books with hidden compartments inside, 17 firearms, and about 30,000 rounds of various ammunition, according to police.

In addition, police recovered over 100 switchblade knifes, a small amount of marijuana, and about three ounces of pure methamphetamine commonly referred to as ice, which is meth in its purest form.

During a 2004 interview, Hodge estimated the street value of the drugs recovered to be about $30,000.

Benson later plead guilty to possession of a controlled substance in exchange for a probated 12-month jail sentence.

Benson also agreed to donate $25,000 to the sheriff’s department. In addition, he agreed to forfeit all guns, knives and other contraband confiscated at the time of his arrest to be disposed of according to statute, according to the agreed order.

Evidence tampering

Count 21 of the indictment alleged that on Nov. 15, 2009, Hodge tampered with physical evidence when he, in the course of his duties as sheriff, received prescription drugs and weapons from Deputy Ronnie Bowling. Hodge failed to account for the evidence or to log it into the official evidence log knowing that it was potential evidence in legal proceedings, according to the indictment.

Still the sheriff

Hodge can continue serving as sheriff until his case is resolved in circuit court, or until his term in office ends on Jan. 1, 2011.

"He will remain as sheriff at least until the end of the year," Trimble said. "The fact that a person is charged of a crime doesn’t mean that they are convicted of a crime. They can remain in office until either the criminal proceedings are resolved or the term is over.

"Because a person is charged with a crime and a public official is charged with a crime doesn’t mean that they are required to give up their office. When a conviction is final they can be removed at that time. I don’t expect that will happen before the end of his term."

No special prosecutor

Trimble said that there would be no special prosecutor brought in to handle the case.

"I am going to handle the prosecution of it. There is no reason to ask for a special prosecutor," Trimble said. "I know that he is a public official, but as commonwealth attorney it is important for people to understand that we prosecute people, who break the law regardless of who they are or the type of position they have. I’m not just for the people, who are not elected officials. I am for everybody."

Pending federal case

Trimble said that he doesn’t anticipate anyone else being charged in connection with the special grand jury’s investigation into Hodge’s office.

"I can’t speak to the federal grand jury," he said.

Trimble said that the federal investigation is separate from the state investigation.

"Some of it is related, but our charges will not be charges that are brought in federal court," Trimble said. "There is no abuse of public trust charge in the federal system. Tampering with physical evidence is our charge for our evidence here, which is a state charge."

Trimble said there are some allegations, which could lead to charges in both federal and state court.

"We have tried to work with federal prosecutors to try and investigate that, which we can act on, and that which they are more capable of acting on," Trimble said.