Guns & Badges Scandal: How Bivens' Supporters Seized Upon A 'Guilt by Association'

'In-cahoots' with a former Isbell 'crony' may be the worst decision Sheriff Tommy "Whitey" Jones ever made--"We are judged by the company we keep"

POST A SIGN-GET A BADGE

It's as if the lines had become blurred--was the SDS gun store part of the the Monroe County Sheriff's Dept, did SDS take advantage of Sheriff Tommy Jones' lack of experience? One senior law enforcement official said that "Yes, they did take advantage of his inexperience." 

Tommy Jones deals with the first major scandal since he was appointed as Sheriff--a call to TV 6 and 8 in Knoxville exposed what some saw coming over a year ago. Self Defense Solutions appeared to make appointed Sheriff Tommy Jones their own "special darling"... 
Selling a large number of firearms from the evidence room to a business owned by a former Isbell crony raised questions of illegal or unethical transactions...exactly how close were the sheriff's ties to the gun store?...Sheriff Jones was quoted as saying  "We're not in the storage business."  That is one of the most 'absurd' public comments you will ever hear from the head of a law enforcement agency. See http://www.iape.org/  which offers classes, manuals, and guides or PTAC...

DON G. CHAREST

...When interim Sheriff Tommy Jones was appointed as  Sheriff by the board of commissioners on 12/9/2014--the Madisonville, TN gun store owners of Self-Defense Solutions immediately went on a "charm offensive" showering him with congratulatory 'high fives', and posting a "Congrats Tommy" sign on Hwy 411--Tommy soon developed a close relationship with Don Charest, part-owner of the store, who was again handed a reserve-officer badge, just like in the Tellico Plains-Bill Isbell days.

An appearance of impropriety: former police chief Bill Isbell and the former head of the civilian Tellico Plains police force, (Don Charest), had been terminated at the same time by Mayor Roger Powers--former Mayor Powers was faced with a 'failure of trust issue' with Isbell and Charest, which later involved an investigation by the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury, over missing money from police fundraisers, guns, and drugs.

News 8 reporters asked co-owner of Self Defense Solutions store Ray Kough, if this was the first time they bought guns from the Sheriff: watch video and see if you think he answered truthfully.

A former Sheriff in Westmoreland County was charged with giving pay to play police badges to political cronies in ex-change for political contributions--one of the people who received a reserve officer badge, showed it to a state trooper after being pulled over for speeding--the state trooper added a charge of impersonating a deputy sheriff.