Judge Orders Sheriff Robert Arnold to Stay Locked Up

NASHVILLE, TN — Rutherford County Sheriff Robert Arnold will remain jailed ahead of his February trial on corruption and fraud charges, a federal judge ruled.

U.S. District Court Judge Kevin Sharp wrote in his ruling that the disgraced sheriff, awaiting trial on charges he illegally profited from an e-cigarette company, cannot be trusted to follow the requirements of his pre-trial release.

"Defendant’s willingness to use the power of his office to intimidate his wife, his willingness to try to mislead the Probation Office, and his willingness to deceive and obfuscate from the witness stand, among other things, gives this court no basis from which to conclude that he can be trusted to abide by any conditions of release," Sharp's ruling read, in part. "Moreover, the court is not convinced that defendant will not try to manipulate others, or use the powers of his office for his own best interest were he to be released pending trial."

Arnold begged Sharp during a hearing last week to set him free while he awaits trial, saying that his time locked up in Kentucky has been the worst period of his life and comparing his conditions to that of a dungeon.

Arnild's attorneys asked that, at the very least, the sheriff be released and ordered to stay away from his wife — an alleged Labor Day weekend domestic violence situation was what ultimately led to the revocation of Arnold's pre-trial release — and to allow contact with the couple's children, but Sharp didn't buy the idea that Arnold would definitely stay away from his wife.

"While the court agrees that continued incarceration imposes a burden, the court does not share counsel’s optimism that defendant would abide by any conditions of release," Sharp wrote. "Nor would it be enough, in the court’s view, to simply prohibit defendant from seeing his wife, even assuming defendant would follow any such order. ... The court would have to ignore the fact that, since he has been detained, defendant has cajoled and manipulated his wife."

Arnold's wife first made a complaint about the domestic violence, then did not cooperate with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation when it was asked to look into the incident; in the meantime, Arnold fabricated a story of a jailhouse hit in a phone call with his wife.

"Not only did he tell his wife the tale about the hit, he accused her of wanting him to sit in jail; saying he was in jail 'because of your (f-----) tapes'; imploring her to get him out of jail; suggesting that he might harm himself if he stays in jail by telling her to 'tell my kids I loved them very much'; threatening to cut her out of his will; and repeatedly telling her that she is the only one that can 'fix this.' Defendant’s efforts may well have had an impact on Mrs. Arnold’s decision to submit the second affidavit regarding the Labor Day altercation," the judge wrote.

Image via Rutherford County Sheriff's Department