posted May 21, 2008
Attorneys said no settlement is in sight for a federal lawsuit filed against Bradley County Sheriff Tim Gobble by former finance director Cheryl Rich.
A trial date of April 19, 2009 has been set.
Sheriff Gobble on Tuesday "reiterated that the action was frivolous, without merit and completely unfounded."
Ms. Rich has turned over to county officials a memo entitled "Indications of Multiple Incidents of Fraud, Waste and Abuse" in the sheriff's office.
Sheriff Gobble said Tuesday, “The public should understand the sheriff’s office is audited by the state every year. After reviewing all our receipts and related documents, the state auditors confirmed that there are no irregularities in our expenditures, including credit card purchases. All purchases have been verified to be within budget and for official purposes.”
Sheriff Gobble said that "open payroll records show that all payrolls were appropriately paid and allegations to the contrary are false. No one has ever been paid for time they did not work, nor have I ever requested such a thing."
“This particular former employee is attempting to portray herself as a whistle-blower,” the sheriff said. “This is completely false. She was terminated for legitimate reasons relating to her job performance and we weren’t even aware that she was making any allegations until almost a year later when she filed this lawsuit.”
He said, "The public may review the complete state audit of Bradley County, as well as a detailed description of all BCSO credit card purchases by logging onto the BCSO website ~ http://bradleysheriff.com"
Ms. Rich said in the suit that Sheriff Gobble told her soon after taking office that he had made over $100,000 at the Secret Service and needed to supplement his income. She said he proposed hiring his wife on a part-time basis at $20,000 a year.
She said he wanted her in a position "where she could come and go as she wants."
The suit said Mrs. Gobble was hired at $23,659 and worked less than the required 40 hours per week.
The complaint says Ms. Rich "learned of a series of questionable expenditures of taxpayer monies by the sheriff to purchase items for his use" - a Sig Sauer handgun and holster, a rifle, a shotgun, machine gun and clothing."
She claimed the sheriff and his wife were using department credit cards in violation of county policy.
Ms. Rich said after she questioned certain expenditures, she was demoted and her pay was cut from $55,000 to $38,969.
She is represented by attorney Peter Alliman of Madisonville.
Sheriff Gobble is represented by attorney Thomas LeQuire of Chattanooga.
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