Robert Arnold - The Untold Stories

Former Sheriff Robert Arnold

Taking on powerful people is always a dangerous thing. Taking on corrupt members of law enforcement, who have the ability to completely ruin a person's life, is a whole other level of dangerous.

As we have seen through the Oust Sheriff Arnold campaign, Robert Arnold and many of those around him were not average. Average law enforcement officers and average people are honorable, decent, and kind. Arnold and company lied, manipulated, stole, and cost tax payers vast sums of money. Arnold is now serving 50 months in prison, his chief deputy Joe Russell pleaded guilty to counts related to the JailCigs case, Arnold's cousin James Vanderveer (who also tortured inmates) has been fired, the homophobic Major Terry McBurney, who was born in Ireland, pleaded guilty to unlawfully obtaining US citizenship, and now, Nathan Pagel (who was in charge of the Warrants and Records Division) has been fired for conducting illegal background checks against people Arnold didn't like.

The Murfreesboro Post article about Pagel says he conducted background checks against "top county officials", however, the story (as it pertains to Pagel) could go deeper than that. In light of this new story, I feel the time is right to share these untold stories.

I want to make it clear that Axl David, Adam Williams, James Gann, and Joe Liggett have given me permission to use their names and the information they have told me.

Myself (Jacob Bogle) and other member of Tennesseans Against Corruption were the target of harassment, hacking, and threats throughout the two years it took to go from filing an ethics complaint to Arnold sitting in prison. We sought advice from the FBI and TBI, but because our main focus was ousting Arnold due his dealings with JailCigs, and to not cause a delay in that suit, we did not discuss these events publicly.

The first untold story deals with TAC as a whole. When we began we had a group discussion thread on Facebook. Only people who were actively involved had access and everyone knew everyone else in the group. On May 3, 2015, a Facebook user using the name "Travis Hasse" started sending various members of the group screenshots of our group messages. No one knew who this "person" was.

The "Travis Hasse" profile no longer exists, and so any former communications from him would now be seen as from "Facebook User". Here is one message from him that I received. It was a portion of our conversations where we were working to find out who may have been involved in various acts of corruption and abuse of power. I want to stress again, that this was a direct copy of a private message thread. Names and other sensitive details have been blacked out.

Soon after learning we had been hacked (exactly how and by whom is still unknown), TAC member Joe Liggett was told that Arnold was trying to have Joe and myself investigated by the FBI. Shortly after, I received a phone call from Daily News Journal reporter Scott Broden, asking me if I knew that I was "under investigation" and if I knew why. He said that it was alleged that I had actually hacked into the Rutherford County Sheriff's Office website. I told him I didn't do it, nor did I have the knowledge to do something like that.

Joe Liggett said that on top of knowing about the group's messages being hacked, that he was followed at times, and "I wasn't safe and I took measures to ensure my well-being. I didn't let it discourage any of my efforts to help remove corruption from positions of authority."

The "investigation story" apparently got around. I was wearing one of TAC's "Oust Sheriff Arnold" t-shirts while at a store, when Joe Russell's wife (Nicole Lester) came up to me (apparently not know I was this "Jacob" person) and started telling me all about it - how he (me) had hacked into the website, was under investigation, and so forth. Other people connected with the Sheriff's Office were also involved in spreading the "investigation" story and talking about having information, names, conversations, etc. relating to TAC.

Out of respect for the privacy of the other person who had this conversation (screenshot below) with TAC member Adam Williams, I will call them "Person A". From this conversation it became clear that Person A and others had been receiving information that was taken from the content of the private TAC discussions, which adds further evidence of a hack. To protect possibly sensitive information, I have blacked out/removed portions of what was a very long conversation for publication, but I have left the relevant parts visible.

Screen shot of conversation from Person A to Adam Williams.

We have been trying to figure out the full scope of the story. Regarding the "investigation" we don't know if this was simply an internal memo, if the FBI really was asked to investigate Joe Liggett and me, but saw there was no actual evidence, or if it was a "planted story" meant to intimidate us into dropping our efforts. TAC Chairman James Gann shared his thoughts with me:

 "At the time, we were still in our developmental stages as an organization, so discovering this violation of our Fourth Amendment protected rights against unreasonable searches had the potential to break us apart, and in my opinion, that’s what these actions were designed to do, to scare us away from pursuing action against Sheriff Arnold."

Gann continues, "What they ended up accomplishing though, was solidifying our resolve even further. We asked ourselves one simple question, if they were willing to violate our rights in this manner, what else were they willing to do? At that moment, we knew we had to see what we started through to completion, and we did. I couldn’t be more proud to work alongside a group of people as courageous as my fellow TAC members."

The breach of our Facebook communications and the "investigation" against us may be connected, as law enforcement routinely gains access to Facebook users' information and communications, as police only have to claim wrongdoing on the part of the person(s) being looked at. Did Arnold direct his conspirators to abuse their power and get our conversations via "legitimate" channels? Or were they actually hacking accounts while claiming we were doing the real hacking?

Axl David

Other people beyond those in TAC Robert Arnold saw as enemies have also been the subject of harassment and intimidation. Resident Axl David has been a local political activist for several years. He was involved in pushing back against inconsistencies in the official story regarding the 2013 Fourth of July video, and he was a candidate for Murfreesboro City Council. While Axl had been under investigation for a crime to which he later entered a provisional plea, he was also the subject of unwarranted harassment. Additionally, Deputy Pagel had shown Axl's Facebook account to people who weren't law enforcement while in his office, further showing his disregard for protocol and privacy rights.

Axl sent me the following narrative of what he experienced.

"It started out receiving phone calls late at night while I was at work from a local number. When I went to call the number, it would go straight to 911 dispatch. I was told by dispatchers that then-Sheriff Arnold wanted to speak to me via the recorded emergency line.

He would aggressively try to get me to let him come into my house, saying he wanted to talk about the recent checkpoints (that I recorded). I adamantly refused. He wouldn't give up, and I eventually tried to get him to meet me at a gas station. He said he would only do it inside my house. I ended the conversation, and over the course of several nights he would come to my house and knock on all the doors, then leave his business card in the door jamb.

He started leaving voicemails saying he knew I was home because my car was in the driveway, and he would keep coming over until I let him inside. My roommate and I had to start parking our cars several blocks away until he gave up.

This was in the month leading up to his primary election. I also began receiving messages via Facebook, text, email, etc. from unknown or fake profiles. The messages contained highly personal information that could only be obtained through a subpoena."

The past few years have proven that concerned citizens really can make a positive difference in their community, and that so long as justice is on your side, no amount of harassment or intimidation can prevail. Allegations against Deputy Nathan Pagel reveal how far dishonest people will go to hide their activities and try to silence those working to do the right thing. It's up to everyone to help ensure this kind of behavior never again threatens the safety and peace of our county and state.

If you have any information about corruption, please contact Tennesseans Against Corruption at www.BattleCorruption.com

--Jacob Bogle, June 2, 2017
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The Questionable Hires of Sheriff Robert Arnold

NOTE: this list will be updated periodically as new information comes to light. This is a very fluid situation and will require continued attention. For additional updates, please visit the Tennesseans Against Corruption Facebook page on the matter.

The Rutherford County Sheriff's Office has 343 full and part-time employees with another 154 or so working at the jail. No one is perfect. No doubt, if you looked at everyone you'd find something negative, a parking ticket perhaps or they were late paying taxes 10 years ago. However, under Sheriff Robert's administration, there seems to be a pattern of hiring and re-hiring people with severely compromised pasts.

Giving someone a second chance is reasonable under normal circumstances, but working in law enforcement is not a normal job. Law enforcement officers (LEOs) are the ones we as a society have granted permission to actually kill another person. They have the power to not only take a life, but to lock up another person and take their rights away, and they have the power to confiscate their property (without necessarily having to return it once the accused is declared innocent). If a mistake is made, they have the capability to completely ruin the lives of other people and their families. To whom we delegate this awesome authority, the bar must be set very high. Nothing short will suffice; after all, there's no second chances when it comes to killing or otherwise destroying the life of another person. The people we give this power to need impeccable moral fiber, integrity, and demonstrable sound judgement.

The following are several currently employed officers who were either fired or forced to resign under previous sheriffs or from other law enforcement departments (such as Murfreesboro Police) for criminal or other serious reasons, and then were later re-hired by Sheriff Arnold. It's important to remind everyone that the information below comes from publicly available sources (such as news reports and personnel files) and are about current government employees. This has nothing to really do with the people below (unless they're directly involved in the current situation), rather, this has everything to do with Sheriff Arnold and his apparent habit of hiring criminals to be the ones tasked with upholding the law and protecting us.

Given his connections to the current ethics complaint against Sheriff Arnold and the fact that he is in the middle of the ongoing inmate pepper spray incident, I will begin with Deputy James Vanderveer, whose parents own JailCigs.

James Vanderveer

On March 7, 2010, Vanderveer (who is Arnold's nephew) was arrested in Cobb County, Georgia for possession of marijuana. He later plead guilty to disorderly conduct and was sentenced to community service. He became a full-time officer on Oct. 13, 2014, though he had been with the RCSO for several years prior. A waiver was filed, in connection with the Georgia arrest, with the Police Officer Standards and Training Commission (POST) so that he could remain in compliance with their regulations. 

On Feb 7, 2012, Vanderveer resigned from the Sheriff's Office and then was arrested for DUI. He was then re-hired by Sheriff Arnold. So now, this officer has a history of both drug possession and DUI. 

Then, in December 2013, Vanderveer placed inmate Demario Harris in a 4-point restraint (basically tying him to a chair so that he could not use his arms or legs), because, according to Vanderveer, Harris had been combative. However, after having Harris fully restrained and no longer a threat, Vanderveer proceeded to pepper spray Harris in the face. Harris is now seeking $300,000 in damages.

Despite all of this, Vanderveer is still employed by Arnold.

Major Terry McBurney

Major McBurney received a DUI and was demoted to serve in the detention center and received a three day suspension while working under former sheriff Truman Jones. Jones later fired McBurney after allegations of profiting off of evicting residents from rental properties and a bizarre incident involving his wife taking property from a rental unit. Under Sheriff Jones, McBurney was earning $31,430/year. Once Arnold was elected in 2010, he rehired McBurney and gave him a pay raise to $39,060. McBurney's pay was then increased in 2013 to $51,690 after being promoted to captain, and yet again in 2016 when he was made major - now earning $61,902. McBurney has also served as Arnold's traveling companion when he goes out-of-state to pick up extradited criminals.

When asked about this travel, Arnold said he considered it a "perk". He has faced criticism before from members of the County Commission relating to extradition cases. (2015 resulted in the need for $20,000 to be taken from a GED program to cover these travel expenses.) But back to Major McBurney.

McBurney seems to also have at least three Twitter accounts. He set up an account in 2010 with the Twitter name @tpm2b (which Sheriff Arnold follows) and then he created @tmcburney in 2011. That account has no tweets and only 5 followers. Of those 5, one is McBurney's current active Twitter account @tmcb811 (which he set up in 2012) and the other is his wife @ShereeMcB. 

The 2011 @tmcburney account is blank except for his profile picture.

(Click to enlarge image)

The shirt he's wearing in the picture says "Silly Faggot Dix Are For Chix". While this isn't illegal, it is incredibly offensive and distasteful - particularly for a public employee and officer of the law. One has to question why he chose this image (dated 1995) for his modern public profile (and since by 2011 he was back working at RCSO) and why he decided to create another Twitter account in 2012 instead of simply using the old one and while keeping that picture public?

(Click to enlarge image)

(Click to enlarge image)

Horrible behavior seems to be a prerequisite to be rehired.

Deputy A. J . Ross

Deputy A. J. Ross on July 4, 2013.

Deputy Ross (a "drug recognition expert") is perhaps most known for his role in the July 4th, 2013 DUI checkpoint incident during which he became enraged at local resident Chris Kalbaugh for asserting his legal rights. Deputy Ross then called a drug dog over to search Kalbaugh's car and allegedly found marijuana. However, Ross failed to arrest Kalbaugh and let him drive home. In other words, if we are to believe Ross' story, he let a drug offender drive home with no consequences.

After that affair, he was awarded "Deputy of the Year" by Sheriff Arnold in December 2013. 

Prior to that, Ross was forced to resign from the RCSO in 2004 (under Sheriff Truman Jones) after failing to appear in court to testify when there were dozens of cases on the docket. His personnel file also shows that he lied about having insurance (when he in fact did not have it) after rear-ending another vehicle. Ross was rehired by Sheriff Arnold. Once again, we have someone who was forced to leave law enforcement for illegal activities being rehired by our current sheriff.

Andrew Messick

Andrew Messick was an officer with the Murfreesboro Police Department from 2010 to 2013. In July 2013, he and his wife were arrested for drug possession after a TBI investigation. They attempted to trade their TV to get hydrocodone pills (which the DEA has recently re-classified as a Schedule II narcotic, the highest level of prescription drug). He was initially decommissioned, though later, the MPD Chief of Police recommended that his employment be terminated.

According those working at the Sheriff's Office, Messick, a drug offender, now works at the detention center.

Kenneth Zook

Finally, there's Kenneth Zook. In early 2010, under former Sheriff Truman Jones, Deputy Kenneth Zook was forced to resign after pictures came to light about a party he attended and his refusal to comply with the investigation (which included a drug test). Sheriff Robert Arnold rehired him and he still works for the RCSO.

The issue at hand wasn't that Zook was out partying and drinking, but that at the party were drugs of an unknown type, possibly marijuana, and that all of this was being done in a room with a young child (it was revealed that other children were at the party, but the photos only show one girl). This shows that Zook has very poor judgement in that, being a law enforcement officer at the time, he didn't seem to see any problem with a room full of adults drinking and drugging while a young girl was mingling in the mix. The World Health Organization has found strong links between young children being exposed to such situations and later growing up with behavioral and substance abuse problems themselves.

Here are some of the pictures in question. These pictures had been placed on MySpace at the time and were brought to the attention of Sheriff Jones. I have obscured the faces of everyone except that of Kenneth Zook. I have also tried to hide any unique markings on the clothing of the other attendees in an attempt to further shield their identity. (Click the pictures for a larger view.)

It was also reported to me, from a source (I'll call "Q") who wishes to remain anonymous, that in 2013, after having been re-hired by Arnold earlier, the Zook family was using his position in the RCSO to harass Q and intimidate Q into dropping a legal case. All of this (and more) was reported to multiple people in authority at the time, but as of yet, nothing has been done. As stated earlier, Zook is still employed with the department.

I called the RSCO about further questionable deputies, but at the time of publication I have not received a reply. 

For continual updates, please take the time to visit: https://www.facebook.com/OustSheriffArnold

To review the beginnings of the Sheriff Robert Arnold controversy, please see this article.

--Jacob Bogle (Originally published on April 29, 2015. Updated on June 5, 2016.)
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