A special Whitley County Grand Jury has been empanelled to investigate allegations of criminal wrong doing by current Whitley County Sheriff Lawrence Hodge.
Chief Circuit Judge Paul Braden empanelled the special grand jury Friday morning pursuant to a petition filed on May 20 by Commonwealth’s Attorney Allen Trimble.
Braden approved the petition on May 28 and set June 25 as the date for empanelling the grand jury.
"The purpose stated for the special grand jury is to investigate allegations of criminal wrong doing by the current Whitley County Sheriff Lawrence Hodge and allegations of criminal wrong doing by the sheriff’s office," Trimble said in a press release.
"The petition was filed a few days after the recent election in order not to impact the recent primary election. Also, certain aspects of the investigation by various agencies had not been completed."
During the May 18 Primary Election, retired Kentucky State Police Detective Colan Harrell soundly defeated Hodge by a vote of 4,765 to 1,891 in a five-way race.
"These allegations came up at a time when Sheriff Hodge was involved in an election," Trimble said in an interview Friday morning. "I’ve never liked doing something in the criminal sector that might influence an election unless you absolutely have to.
"Rather than impacting the election, we decided to wait until after the election whether he won or lost. We don’t want to be accused of being political in what we do because it is not political."
Trimble said he couldn’t comment on whether the grand jury will look at allegations related to Hodge’s audits or the December break-in at his office.
"I can’t get into details of what we are looking at. I can say that various state and federal agencies are looking into it," Trimble said.
State Auditor Crit Luallen referred findings in audits of Hodge’s books to the FBI for further investigation.
The findings revealed several problems in the office that included alleged budget deficit’s totaling more than $200,000.
In December, Hodge’s courthouse office was broken into revealing that nearly 80 guns were either unaccounted for and stolen or that they had been returned to their owners but that proper paperwork hadn’t been filled out and kept on file.
The Federal Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives (ATF) is investigating the break-in at Hodge’s office.
"Certain witnesses that would appear before the grand jury are federal officials or federal investigators. The Department of Justice is reluctant to institute any criminal proceedings during the course of an election. Some of the investigations were also not complete," Trimble said.
He said that not all of the investigations are now complete.
Hodge said Friday afternoon that he doesn’t know what the grand jury is investigating, but assumes that it is related to the audit findings.
"I’m just glad that they’re getting on with it," he said. "I know nothing criminal that has ever gone on in this office."
A special grand jury serves for a period of 90 days and can be extended for another 90 days.
The first meeting of the special grand jury is scheduled for July 16.
