Tennessee sheriff pleads not guilty to using prison labor for personal profit

Associated Press

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — A sitting Tennessee sheriff has pleaded not guilty to charges that he illegally profited from the work of jail inmates under his supervision and housed dozens of them in a home outside of the prison without permission. The lawyer for Gibson County Sheriff Paul Thomas says he entered the plea to 18 charges during a circuit court hearing in Trenton. Thomas was indicted in May in Gibson and Davidson counties on 22 charges, including official misconduct, theft, forgery and computer crimes involving jail inmates in his custody. Lawyer William Massey has said that Thomas deserves the presumption of innocence, and he looks forward to defending himself in court.