West Tennessee assistant district attorney indicted

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — An assistant district attorney for the 24th Judicial District is facing charges following allegations that he was wrongfully paid more than $22,000.

According to the Tennessee Comptroller’s office, Thomas Tansil Jr. was an assistant district attorney covering Henry, Carroll, Benton, Decatur and Hardin counties.

The Comptroller’s office says investigators were able to determine Tansil received $22,740.36 in salary and travel reimbursements between August 1, 2017 and January 31, 2020.

Those payments include 22 days of military leave, when Tansil was not away on military orders or on drill status. Those payments totaled $7,235.93, according to a news release.

The release says Tansil received more than $5,000 for 16 days of military leave after he had already used the permitted number of days.

He also took at least 141 hours of annual leave or sick leave that he did not have, receiving more than $6,000, and another $3,700 in falsified travel claims, according to the release.

Investigators are also questioning another $135,874 in salary and travel reimbursements, after the release says some of his salary and travel could not be substantiated through documents or interviews, according to the release.

The release also says Tansil admitted that he did not work 25 percent of the time he claimed to work between July 1, 2018 and January 31, 2020.

Earlier this month, Tansil was indicted by a Carroll County grand jury on one count of theft over $10,000, one count of official misconduct, one count of tampering with governmental records, and one count of computer offenses.

The District Attorney of the 10th Judicial District has been appointed to prosecute the case.

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