Former Gibson Co. Sheriff’s Office employee enters best interest plea

TRENTON, Tenn. — A former Gibson County Sheriff’s Office employee appeared Monday in court.

Robert Pinkerton was part of former Gibson County sheriff Chuck Arnold’s administration. He entered a best interest plea during Monday’s hearing.

The last time Pinkerton was in court, his attorney, Michael Carter, requested evidence regarding altered time cards, something Carter said had been an ongoing issue.

“We have been pressing the state to provide information about a key fob system operated by the former sheriff’s administration.”

Carter said he was successful with getting an order to access information to help Pinkerton’s case. “We learned that there was a period of time on the key fob system that is missing — about a year and a half period of time that is missing — from the digital records.”

The district attorney’s office, the TBI and Carter worked together to see if the missing data could be recovered, but no one could find it.

“Part of the reason we were able to get the entire case resolved is because we had that digital discovery issue still out there that both sides were working on,” Carter said.

According to court papers, terms of Pinkerton’s plea of best interest includes paying restitution of more than $11,000 and five years of probation. Pinkerton is also eligible for judicial diversion, meaning that his record will be expunged upon completion of his probation period.