By Brandon Moseley
Alabama Political Reporter
Wednesday, July 25, Attorney General Luther Strange (R) announced that the Alabama Supreme Court has removed Sumter County Sheriff Tyrone Clark Sr. from office, following impeachment proceedings.
AG Strange said, “Justice has been served. Alabamians rightfully expect their public officials to conduct their duties of office honestly and in accordance with the law. When public officials are also sworn to uphold the law, as in the case of a sheriff, there is an even higher expectation that they will abide by their oath.”
Impeachment charges were initiated by Sumter County District Attorney Greg Griggers, reported by the Sumter County grand jury, and prosecuted by the Office of the Attorney General, against Sumter County Sheriff Tyrone Clark Sr. Sheriff Clark was found guilty of willful neglect of duty and corruption in office and removed from his office of sheriff of Sumter County.
The impeachment of Sheriff Clark for corruption was another victory for the Attorney General’s Special Prosecution Division.
AG Strange said, “I am proud of the men and women of the Attorney General’s Special Prosecutions Division in securing the impeachment of Sheriff Clark. Public Corruption is a top priority of my office.”
Attorney General Strange thanked District Attorney Greg Griggers of the 17th Judicial Circuit and Beau Brown of the Alabama Office of Prosecution Services for their assistance and commended Assistant Attorney General Megan Kirkpatrick, Deputy Attorney General Mike Duffy, and the Special Agents of the Attorney General’s Special Prosecutions Division for their outstanding work in this case.
The Special Prosecutions Division recently convicted disgraced former Speaker of the House Mike Hubbard (R-Auburn) for 12 counts of violating Alabama’s ethics law.
The Alabama Supreme Court unanimously found Clark guilty of willful neglect of duty and corruption in office. A majority of the justices found him guilty of all specifications as alleged. The entire Court found Clark guilty of the following specifications charged in the information: specifications 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, and 8 of Charge 1, and specifications 1, 2, and 3 of Charge 2.
Now that he has been removed from office it is likely that Sheriff Clark will face future criminal proceedings. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA) raided the Sumter County Sheriff’s offices on March 15th. The FBI has confirmed that there is a federal investigation underway.
The Court found that Clark committed a whole host of violations include allowing inmates at the jail to have female companions visit for sex, having inmates do work for him at his home, allowing prisoners to leave the jail to go to work for a share of their earning, for contraband to be brought into the jail, for allowing an inmate access to guns, for allowing a prisoner to use an office for sex trafficking and for attempting to use his position to get sex from an employee.
(Original reporting by WBRC Fox 6 contributed to this report)
