Sumter County Sheriff impeached by Alabama Supreme Court
Sumter County Sheriff Tyrone Clark Sr. was impeached by the Alabama Supreme Court following a three-day trial in Montgomery today.
Clark, who was elected sheriff in 2011, found himself at the center of a raid by federal and state agencies in March. During the raid, Clark said he was just there to uphold the law.
“I’m part of no wrongdoing,” Clark said. “I’m here to uphold the law.”
In April, a Sumter County Grand Jury found probable cause to move forward with impeachment hearings after being presented with evidence that Clark neglected to secure, supervise, and maintain custody of inmates, willfully failed to prevent contraband from entering the jail, allowed an inmate to have sex with female visitors, used inmates at his own residence, and used his position to coerce a female employee to have sex with him.
According to testimony in this week’s hearing from Luther Davis, a former chief deputy with the Sumter County Sheriff’s Department, Rodney Coats, an inmate, was given special privileges by Clark, who made Coats an “inmate-trustee” at the jail.
“I said, ‘Sheriff…with his criminal history, he cannot be trusted to be a trustee,” said Davis.
“It was almost like he was another chief deputy or one of (Clark’s) close friends.”
According to Davis, Coats even had the password to the jail’s surveillance system, something Davis was not privy to.
Throughout the trial, Clark denied most of the allegations against him, including those accusing him of allowing Coats to drive his Expedition off the jail premises, have visitors after hours in an unattended administration room, process other inmates into the jail, and re-enter the jail after working off-site without being searched.
While Sumter County does not have a work release program, Clark said that inmates were participating in a work furlough program, which allowed inmates to keep 75% of the profits made while working, and gave the sheriff’s office the remaining 25%. During opening statements Monday, Assistant Attorney General Megan Kirkpatrick said Clark was pocketing that 25% that was to go to the sheriff’s office.
Criminal proceedings, if warranted, will be filed separately.