Tennessee Sheriff Jailed After Judge Revokes Bond

NASHVILLE (CN) — Rutherford County, Tenn. Sheriff Robert Arnold was taken into federal custody on Wednesday amid claims of domestic abuse, five months before his scheduled trial for federal corruption charges.

Arnold, his uncle and an administrative deputy were indicted in May by a federal grand jury on charges of honest services fraud, mail fraud, wire fraud, bribery, extortion, obstruction of justice and conspiracy for their roles in a company that sells e-cigarettes to inmates.

Arnold, his uncle John Vanderveer, and Joe Russell II, chief administrative deputy for Rutherford County, each invested $3,000 in October 2013 to start JailCigs LLC, a company selling electronic cigarettes to be used by inmates, according to prosecutors.

Though Arnold denied receiving any profit from the company, prosecutors say he made $66,000 from JailCigs between October 2013 and April 2015.

His trial, originally scheduled for August, was pushed back to Feb. 7, 2017, to allow the defendants time to go through discovery information from the U.S. Justice Department.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Alistair Newbern revoked the sheriff's $250,000 bond Wednesday, a day after a U.S. attorney presented evidence that Arnold violated the terms of his pretrial release through allegations of domestic abuse involving his wife.

According to local news reports, prosecutors said Arnold came home intoxicated from a pool party earlier this month and became angry when his wife stopped having sex with him.

Arnold's wife allegedly said in phone calls played in a courtroom Tuesday that he shoved her down and punched her in the arm after she tried to get away from him.

Judge Newbern reportedly said she found sufficient probable cause that Arnold committed domestic assault.

The sheriff's arrest Wednesday means he'll be in federal custody until his February trial.

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