CLEVELAND, Tenn. – Bradley County commissioners looking for someone to do a deep dive into the sheriff’s office’s finances seemed satisfied Tuesday that the state comptroller’s office can do the job.
A pair of officials with the Division of Local Government Audit met Tuesday with the ad hoc committee named to decide the scope and cost of what commissioners have called a “forensic audit” of the Bradley County Sheriff’s Office.
Two weeks ago, the full commission voted 11-3 to form the panel after more than a year of allegations including credit card misuse, missing money and improper property disposal. The members include commissioners Milan Blake, Thomas Crye and Bill Winters and County Attorney Crystal Freiberg. Commissioners Louie Alford, Mike Hughes and Dan Rawls sat in on the session Tuesday.
Also sitting in was a representative of attorney Andrew J. Brown, who told the committee in a letter he has been retained to represent the sheriff’s office in any issues related to the committee’s work.
Bradley County Sheriff Eric Watson in his booking photograph following his July indictment on charges of six felony counts of owning or using certificates of title that had been forged or altered.Winters asked whether Brown was hired by the department or personally by Sheriff Eric Watson, and Freiberg said the sheriff’s office was paying.