A Gibson County sheriff has been indicted on various counts after an investigation found he profited from the labor and care of Tennessee inmates.

A report from the Tennessee Comptroller’s Office says Sheriff Paul Thomas, who has served as sheriff since 2014, profited from labor of Gibson County and Tennessee Department of Correction (TDOC) inmates to benefit himself and a group of investors.

Addtionally, the investigation found Thomas received $181,644.50 in compensation, payroll benefits and legal representation services from Alliance which was derived from inmate labor.

He allegedly held a 20% ownership interest in Alliance and was prohibited by state law from “profiting or benefiting from the labor of inmates.”

“Our investigators identified multiple deficiencies within the sheriff’s office that coincided with this scheme,” said Comptroller Mumpower. “We also learned that Sheriff Thomas failed to disclose his ownership interest in Alliance in his annual filings with the Tennessee Ethics Commission and violated his duty to secure and properly guard inmates until they were lawfully discharged.”

During the investigation, the report says Thomas had at least 170 inmates in his custody who were employed by the Alliance staffing agency.

The report also says Alliance Transportation was paid $18 per day to transport these inmates to and from work. Additionally, the investigation found 82 inmates were allowed to live at the transitional home Orchard House instead of the Gibson County jail without proper approval and were charged $40 per day by Orchard House.

Regarding inmate housing, Thomas is also accused of tricking the TDOC by letting 74 inmate held in Gibson County jail to live at Orchard House without a judge’s proper approval.

The management system still was under the impression these inmates were residing at the jail which resulted in the county collecting $507,273 in reimbursements from TDOC.

The report says Thomas then required the county to disburse these funds to Orchard House without TDOC’s knowledge or consent even though the transitional home was neither attached to the jail nor staffed by jail personnel, and no contract existed between the county and Orchard House.

The investigation found that Thomas also improperly handled wages earned by inmates working for Alliance by having $448,637.09 be deposited into a private account owned and controlled by the Alliance Group.

Based upon this investigation, in May 2024, Paul Thomas was indicted by both the Davidson and Gibson County Grand Juries on a combined total of 22 counts which include counts of theft, forgery, computer crimes and official misconduct.