In the high-stakes theater of Monroe County politics, the "3 Amigos" have spent decades mastering the art of the narrow escape. But as the 2026 election cycle ignites, the taxpayer's checkbook is finally telling the story that Sheriff Tommy Jones tried to bury.
To understand the current crisis, one must understand the brotherhood that has gripped Monroe County’s throat for over a decade. They are a trio bound by loyalty, scandals, and an uncanny ability to survive administrative wreckage: Who are the "3 Amigos"?
Tommy Jones(The Teflon): The "luckiest" of the bunch. He rose from a humble double-wide trailer to a million-dollar mansion in a gated community, avoiding the legal shrapnel that hit his partners.
Randy White(The Tethered): The man who won the Sheriff’s seat in 2014 only to be disqualified by a judge. Now the EMS Director, Randy is rumored to be bound by a "blood promise" to Mayor Mitch Ingramnever to leave his post to run for Sheriff again.
Keith "Wormy" Hodge(The Target): The operative who took the fall for the 2014 vote-buying scandal.
Today, Wormy faces his darkest chapter yet: an indictment for rape allegations involving an incident at The Madisonville EMS Station—the very department overseen by his fellow "Amigo," Randy White.
As of April 21, 2025, the Hodge case (Number: 24282CRM) was still active in the Monroe County Circuit Court. According to the court docket:
Current Stage: The case was listed for a Plea/Assignment hearing.
Status: This stage typically involves the defendant either entering a plea or the court setting a future trial date. Update: Trial Date set for 2/24/2026
Representation: Hodge is represented by attorney Robert L. Jolley, Jr
Nothing exposes the "Amigo" double standard like the case of Josh Woods. In Tommy Jones' Monroe, loyalty is a one-way street reserved only for the inner circle.
The Veteran: Woods gave 17 years of his life to the badge, maintaining a spotless record.
The Axe: In late 2025, following an off-duty DUI, Woods was immediately fired.
The Bite: While "Wormy" Hodge was protected through years of scandals, a career deputy was cast aside in a heartbeat. This summary firing—denying a nearly two-decade employee the 14th Amendmentdue process hearings afforded to political allies—sets the stage for a wrongful termination suit that could bankrupt the county further.
The "Amigo Tax" is no longer a metaphor; it is a line item in a failing budget. The taxpayer is bleeding for the brotherhood's mistakes:
The McCreary Verdict ($2.25 Million): A jury recently slammed the county with a multi-million dollar judgment for the death of Joshua McCreary, who was denied life-saving medication. $250,000 was ripped directly from the county’s fund balance—money for your kids’ schools and your neighborhood roads, gone.
The Ghost of Lester Isbill: 74 years old. Strapped to a restraint chair for nine hours. Dead.
With seven former employees indicted for homicide, the civil lawsuit "around the corner" is a ticking time bomb. TheKnox County Forensic Centerreclassified the death as a homicide, and the settlement will likely be the largest in Monroe history.
In Tennessee, the act of intentionally continuing to circulate an alert for a child like Kayla Sherwood after the emergency has been resolved falls under the strict guidelines of Tennessee Code § 39-16-502, which deals with False Reports.
Continuing to promote a "resolved" emergency is generally prosecuted under the "Emergency" provision of the statute, which carries significantly heavier penalties than standard false statements.
When a legal violation like Intentionally Circulating a False Report (TN Code § 39-16-502) is tied to an election season publicity stunt, the legal and political stakes escalate from a criminal offense to a matter of election integrity and public corruption.
In Tennessee, using a false emergency (like a missing child alert) to manipulate public perception during a campaign is viewed as a severe breach of the public trust.Compounding Criminal Charges: Official Misconduct If the person circulating the false report is a public official or candidate seeking to gain an advantage, they face additional charges under TN Code § 39-16-402 (Official Misconduct). The Violation: Acts committed "under color of office" to receive a benefit or harm another. The Penalty: This is a Class E felony, which can result in the permanent forfeiture of the right to hold public office in Tennessee.
The 2022 election in Monroe County wasn't just a political contest; it was the final act in a decade-long drama fueled by betrayal, legal loopholes, and the total erosion of professional loyalty.
To understand why a 6-year-old child's recovery in early 2022 became a battlefield of optics, one must first look at the wreckage of the relationship between Sheriff Tommy Jones and the man who effectively created him, Randy White...Tommy, I'm just a 'benchwarmer.'
In 2014, Randy White was the insurgent who toppled the incumbent Bill Bivens. At his side was Tommy Jones--a man White had plucked from a humble background and a low-level position to be his Chief Deputy. White provided the ladder; Jones simply climbed it. But when a lawsuit from the ousted Bivens triggered a POST Commission technicality regarding White's full-time experience, a ruling by Judge Don Ashe made the "people's winner" legally erased.
Randy White
In the vacuum that followed, the County Commission didn't call for a new election; they appointed the apprentice. Tommy Jones was no longer the deputy; he was the King. In a role-reversal deal worked out, White had now become Jones' chief deputy.
The moment Randy White cleared his legal "glitches" and signaled his intent to reclaim the office he felt was rightfully his, the "moral compass" didn't just spin--it broke. Jones fired White, the very man who had mentored him as second-in-command--this was a cold-blooded reality: Jones was using the authority White gave him to ensure White could never use it again.
2022: When a Miracle Child Became a Prop
By the time the search for young Alijah Kensinger gripped the county in January 13th and 14th 2022, the Jones-White rivalry had reached a fever pitch--Randy White was the EMS Director. In a healthy jurisdiction, the safe recovery of a child is a moment of pure relief. In Monroe County, it was a Public Relations arms race.
The Anatomy of the "Information Embargo"
In a high-profile missing child case, the "Golden Hour" of recovery is typically met with immediate public relief. Keeping the news media--and by extension, the community--in the dark until next day "late morning" served a specific political agenda.
Controlled Narrative
By delaying the announcement, the Sheriff's Office ensured they were the only source for "good news." This allowed them to stage the announcement at a time that maximized viewership and ensured the Sheriff was front and center for the cameras. The 'wait' made the law enforcement effort look more Herculean than it might have been if the "child found" notification had been made quickly and quietly. Alijah was found soon after the search-
began, sitting under a tree, about a mile from home.
In Tennessee, pretending an emergency is still active after it has been resolved is legally viewed as Intentionally Circulating a False Report, which is often penalized more harshly than simply making a false statement.
To continue spreading an alert for Alijah or any other child after the emergency has ended, you could face the following under Tennessee Code § 39-16-502: --
The "False Emergency" Charge (Class C Felony)
The law specifically targets those who "intentionally initiate or circulate a report of a... past, present, or impending... emergency, knowing that the report is false or baseless."
The Penalty: This is a Class C Felony, punishable by 3 to 15 years in prison and fines up to $10,000.
Why it applies: Even if an emergency did exist in the past, circulating it as an active event knowing it is over meets the "false or baseless" criteria.
Obstruction of Justice & Resource Diversion
If pretending the emergency still exists causes the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) or the TBI to take action (e.g., reopening a file, deploying deputies to a "sighting," or diverting 911 dispatchers):
The Charge: You may also be charged with Interference with Government Operations.
The Cost: In many jurisdictions, the court can order the defendant to pay restitution for the full cost of the man-hours and equipment (helicopters, K-9 units) wasted due to the false report.
When a leader uses a community's collective trauma as a "waiting game" for better PR, they aren't just lacking a moral compass--they are actively misusing their authority. For the residents of Monroe County, finding out they were "bluffed" while a child was already safe is often the moment when political skepticism turns into genuine resentment.
Alijah appeared relatively clean, calm, and fresh while carried by Jones in the staged and dangerous trek on a busy state route. If he had actually been lost in the woods in 30*F temperatures for 18 hours, medical reality suggests he would have been shivering, potentially hypothermic, and dirty.
EMS Director Randy White had announced they would carry Alijah to the waiting ambulance, the EMS order was ignored--instead he was carried like a trophy (notice the full-size truck) traveling northbound at highway speed near 'Big Bubba' (Jason Fillyaw) next to Sheriff Tommy Jones.
The Cost of Negligence
In emergency medicine, the "hand-off" and transport are high-risk moments. Ignoring a directive to carry a patient (likely to prevent further trauma or stabilize a critical condition) opens the door for:
Civil Liability: If the patient's condition worsened due to the transport method, the "deliberate indifference" standard becomes much easier to prove in court.
Financial Impact: Monroe County has already faced significant financial hits. Multi-million dollar awards are often the result of juries finding that leadership failed to enforce basic safety standards or allowed a "culture of defiance" toward proper medical care.
The publicity stunt may have violated several federal laws -- also, the Sheriff's Dept prevented EMS from joining the post-incident debriefing.
"The Homeland Security Act" was amended in 2006 adding hr5852, (5) which includes provisions for inter-agency inter-operabilty and cooperation to 'conduct extensive outreach to foster the development of interoperable emergency communications capabilities by State, regional, local governments, and public-safety agencies.'
It also describes ways to (8) 'promote the development of best practices to facilitate the sharing of information for achieving, maintaining, and enhancing inter-agency cooperation capabilities for such response.'
74-year-old retired pastor Lester Isbill died after being restrained in a chair for over nine hours without water, food, or bathroom breaks, with a hood over his head. His autopsy was later amended to show death from heart disease complicated by dehydration and restraint, changing the manner of death to homicide. The core failures here were fundamentally human judgment failures:Compassion and recognition failure - Video reportedly shows a nurse laughing while in the cell and another employee making an obscene gesture toward the camera. The problem wasn't lack of monitoring - it was lack of humanity, protocol violations, and instructions for the restraint chair: State detainees shouldn't be left in it more than two hours. Staff were checking on him periodically but chose not to provide water, medical care, or release him.Discretionary judgment - He was arrested for disorderly conduct, a low-level misdemeanor for which people usually are released on their own recognizance within hours.A robot would have:
Documented the same deterioration
Perhaps alerted supervisors more systematically
But couldn't override human decisions, provide compassionate care, recognize a medical emergency requiring intervention, or exercise the discretion to say "this elderly, confused man with a pacemaker needs a hospital, not a jail cell."
The tragedy here wasn't insufficient monitoring - it was a systematic failure of human compassion, medical judgment, and accountability. Those require fixing through better training, oversight, accountability systems, and cultural change within corrections, not technological substitution.
A robot with proper medical sensors could have provided continuous vital sign monitoring - tracking his heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature, and hydration levels in real-time. Unlike periodic human checks, it could have generated automatic alerts when his condition deteriorated. He was restrained for over nine hours, and automated systems might have flagged the violation of the two-hour restraint chair protocol more insistently than human staff who chose to ignore it.
A robot might also have created an unambiguous, timestamped record of every interaction (or lack thereof) - making it harder to downplay or obscure what happened.
But the fundamental problem remains:
The staff knew what was happening. Video shows personnel in his cell, with one nurse reportedly laughing and another employee making an obscene gesture. They were aware he'd been restrained for hours without water or bathroom access. The issue wasn't a lack of information - it was the decision not to act on that information.
Even if a robot had sent alerts saying "detainee vital signs deteriorating," "nine hours in restraint chair exceeds protocol," or "severe dehydration risk" - those alerts still go to the same human staff who were already ignoring his condition. If people are willing to ignore an elderly man's obvious distress and medical needs, they can silence or override robotic alerts too.
This tragedy required either (1) someone with authority to intervene despite staff indifference, or (2) real-time external oversight with enforcement power. Technology alone can't create accountability when the humans in charge choose cruelty over care.
A robot wouldn't have:
Laughed at a dying man
Made obscene gestures at cameras
Participated in the cruel mockery that characterized this case
Brought personal biases, frustration, or callousness into the situation
That matters significantly because it speaks to something deeply broken in the culture of that facility - staff who had become so desensitized or actively cruel that they could mock someone suffering. A robot would have maintained professional neutrality and followed protocols without the deterioration of empathy that apparently occurred there. In that sense, yes - robotic guards might prevent some forms of activecruelty and abuse. They wouldn't escalate situations out of anger, retaliate against difficult inmates, or engage in the kind of dehumanizing behavior captured on that video.
However, the trade-off is crucial:
While a robot wouldn't mock Pastor Isbill, it also wouldn't have the capacity that a good human guard would have - to recognize "this man is seriously ill and needs help NOW" and override standard procedures to get him emergency medical attention. It wouldn't exercise compassion or give him water even if not explicitly instructed to do so. The real tragedy is that we're weighing "at least robots won't be actively cruel" against "but humans could show mercy." The solution shouldn't be choosing between cruelty and indifference - it should be accountability systems that ensure guards act with basic human decency.
