Johnson County Sheriff Adam King was charged Thursday with two new felonies for allegedly retaliating against a witness and tampering with evidence during a criminal investigation into his workplace behavior.
King was indicted by a grand jury in August last year for allegedly making unwanted sexual comments toward female employees. He was also indicted for allegedly retaliating against former chief deputy James Saulter and a female employee when they reported the alleged behavior to the Texas Rangers.
Prosecutors now say King either altered, destroyed or concealed a county-issued laptop last year while he knew he was being investigated, according to court records.
"The new allegation regarding the Sheriff's laptop computer is completely baseless," attorneys for King said in a statement. "Law enforcement has never asked the Sheriff for his computer or even expressed an interest in his computer. This month, after the State's failed attempt to convict the Sheriff, the Johnson County IT Department contacted the Sheriff and requested his computer. The Sheriff complied with that request and provided his computer."
Prosecutors also filed another charge related to his alleged retaliation against Saulter.
"This remains a tremendous waste of resources," King's attorneys said. "The alleged retaliation case is a reindictment of the old retaliation indictment. This means that the State felt their previous retaliation indictment was insufficient."
That additional charge comes after King already went on trial this month for the first charge related to retaliating against Saulter. A mistrial was declared because the jury could not unanimously agree on whether or not King was guilty.
One person voted differently than the other 11 jurors, but the court did not say if the majority voted in favor of guilt or innocence.
The entire trial will reset with a new jury on Nov. 9.
King has continued to serve as sheriff throughout the entire process.
He was initially on paid administrative leave after his initial indictments but has been allowed to return to work with restrictions.
Dylan Duke is KERA's Breaking News Reporter. Got a tip? Email Dylan Duke at dduke@kera.org.
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