New Gibson County sheriff locked out of office
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TRENTON, Tenn. — New Gibson County Sheriff Paul Thomas officially took over the department on Monday but had a bit of a surprise when he walked in the door. Thomas expected hurdles after closely defeating a two-term sheriff, but nothing like this. “The outgoing administration didn’t offer me the keys to the building or the vehicles or leave them readily accessible,” Sheriff Thomas said. The new administration started on Monday, but when they came to work, they were surprised to find themselves locked out. “Vehicles locked up with the keys in them, that we had to get into,” Thomas said. “Offices locked with no keys. Computers locked that we didn’t have the passwords for.” Sheriff Thomas said it cost upwards of $300 to have all the necessary doors unlocked. The keys were found either inside the offices or cars. County residents said former sheriff Chuck Arnold may have just been upset after losing by just 25 votes in last month’s election. “When you’ve been sheriff as long as the old sheriff had and someone new comes in, it probably hurts a little bit,” county resident Stephanie Carlton said. Others said it was just uncalled for. “I wouldn’t have wanted Sheriff Arnold to have come into his first day in office with a headache like that,” Jennie Fuller said. Sheriff Thomas said he is also requesting an audit of the entire department by the state controllers office, a move he said would not be necessary if Arnold had performed an audit himself and shared the findings with him. “I just want to make sure I’m starting on a clean slate,” Thomas said. “I want to make sure what I’m responsible for, property wise. Things that could get me hit with an audit, I just want to make sure I can account for things that are supposed to be here.” We reached out to former sheriff Chuck Arnold to find out his side of the story. We talked to him by phone, but he told us he had no comment.
