Stan McGahee, who has served as sheriff of Dallas County since 2015, abruptly resigned his position Monday after a federal investigation began into reports that a sheriff's office employee had taken a federal inmate out of the jail without authorization earlier this year.
The investigation, which started late last week by the U.S. Marshals Service in Little Rock, determined that the employee in question was McGahee.
The inmate, Clay Trimble, 29, of Fordyce, is being held in the Dallas County jail for the U.S. Marshals Service since his arrest July 27, 2021, on federal charges of receipt, possession and distribution of child pornography. Last month, Trimble pleaded guilty before Chief U.S. District Judge D. Price Marshall Jr. to one count of distribution of child pornography in exchange for the dismissal of the other two counts and is awaiting sentencing.
According to Dallas County Chief Deputy Josh McMullen, McGahee resigned as sheriff of the south-central Arkansas county of about 6,300 people about noon. McMullen assumed the role of acting sheriff until the Dallas County Quorum Court meets to appoint an interim successor to fill the remainder of McGahee's term of office, which expires Dec. 31.
Reached by phone Tuesday night, McGahee said he was heartsick over the incident, which he said grew out of an act of compassion but ballooned into the crisis that cost him his job because he failed to follow the policies of both his office and the U.S. Marshals Service.
"I will tell you this," he said. "There was no monetary gain, there was no political gain."
McGahee said he was approached earlier this year by a family member of Trimble's with a request to arrange a visit between him and his elderly grandparents, both of whom had limited mobility and would have difficulty coming to the jail.
"She said, 'We're elderly, our health is poor and all we want to do,' -- and it just broke my heart," McGahee said, "she said, 'I just want to touch his face and hold him and tell him I love him because he's going to be in jail and at our age and our health, we're going to die and never get to see him.'
"Well," he continued, "that just broke my heart and where my head went was not toward policy ... It's not even across town where they live ... so basically, not in the dead of night, not out the back door, but in front of God and everybody I took him over, went straight there and came straight back."
McGahee said he remained at the residence for the duration of Trimble's visit.
"I sat right there and he was never out of my sight," he said. "There were no firearms, no drugs, no alcohol and we were there less than an hour or at least not over an hour. I didn't do it for Clay, I did it for those sweet people."
McGahee admitted that he used poor judgment in taking Trimble out of the jail but he was adamant that at no time was Trimble unsupervised. In the wake of the investigation, he said, rumors have been as abundant as they have been inaccurate.
"It's been said I took him out of the county, that I did this or that I did that," he said. "I didn't. There have been a lot of things said that aren't true."
He did say the timing of the matter seemed curious to him.
"This happened back in the spring, I can't say exactly when but it was earlier this year and this information has just come out," he said. "I happen to think it's politically motivated. I'm a Democrat and had a Democratic opponent who, by the grace of God I beat him and I had a Republican opponent I was going to meet in the fall."
McGahee described the contract Dallas County has with the U.S. Marshals Service as "the lifeblood of this county," and said he would never do anything to deliberately jeopardize it.
Dallas County is one of 14 lockups around the state the U.S. Marshals Service contracts with to hold federal inmates from Arkansas' eastern district, according to Chief Deputy U.S. Marshal Jay L. Tuck. Of the 125 beds the Dallas County jail has, it uses on average 80 beds to hold federal inmates for which the county is reimbursed $55 per day per inmate.
Tuck confirmed the investigation, which he said is not yet complete and which resulted from a tip his office received regarding the incident. He declined to comment on the sheriff's resignation or any matters related to Dallas County personnel, but he described the relationship his office has with the Dallas County sheriff's office as positive.
He said the Marshals Service depends on local law enforcement to transport defendants to and from the federal courthouses in Little Rock, Helena-West Helena and Jonesboro, and between facilities.
"We have a hard enough time covering court, much less moving prisoners around," Tuck said. "We depend on these jails for our contracts, to give these prisoners safe housing and to assist with transportation."
Dallas County Judge Clark Brent said his focus is getting the matter put behind the county and working to keep from losing the contract with the marshals service.
"I'm hoping it's not," he said of the possibility the matter could cost the county the contract which amounts to more than $1 million in badly needed annual revenue. "We'll be talking with them but as of right now I think we're going to get to keep our federal prisoners ... It's done and over with now and we're ready to move on."
Although he declined to provide specific details regarding the investigation, Tuck said he believes the incident did not damage the relationship beyond repair. He said Dallas County had consistently provided good service under the terms of the contract and that his inclination is to let the county work the issue out and to move forward.
"They've worked really well with us and I don't want to interfere in what is for them, essentially an HR issue," he said. "This looks like a one-off and not likely to happen again."
For McGahee personally, he said that although he regrets the incident for the position it has put the county in, there is one silver lining. At 71, he said, retiring will give him time to spend with his wife and family.
"I'm proud for every minute I've been able to serve, but my sin is forsaking my family to help other people," he said. "You might work an eight hour day and five minutes before you're supposed to get out there's a rollover accident with injuries and the road's blocked until sunrise. With this retirement, it's brought me closer to my family ... The people who have your back are your family."