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Kent Simpson
The Cotton County Board of Commissioners amended its application to remove the county’s embattled sheriff Wednesday with new allegations of misconduct and impropriety.
The allegations claim that Sheriff Kent Simpson did “knowingly, willfully, and unlawfully commit misconduct in office.”
Submitted by the District Attorney’s Office, the new claims reiterate the original allegations of misconduct and negligence from the June 10 petition that resulted in his suspension from office. They are buttressed with new claims, to include providing his son and another man shelter from arrest despite outstanding arrest warrants and for providing a jail inmate access to Simpson’s wife’s medication.
Among the new allegations:
• Between May 13 and 22, Simpson is alleged to have allowed a man with a felony Cotton County warrant for unauthorized use of motor vehicle stay at Simpson’s rent home located in the county and to keep a stolen vehicle while at the home.
• Between August 2018 and Jan. 10, Simpson is accused of refusing to allow police to arrest his son, Travis Simpson, 40, despite him having five outstanding felony county warrants. The son was staying at his father’s property. He also is accused of refusing to aid a deputy in making the Jan. 10 arrest of Travis Simpson.
Once Travis Simpson was arrested and in jail, Sheriff Simpson is accused of allowing two women to have unsupervised visits with his son, causing him to be moved out of his jail’s custody and to the Comanche County Detention Center.
To further complicate the situation with Simpson and his son, a Christmas Eve 2018 police pursuit of the younger man resulted in the sheriff suffering injuries in a wreck. During his June 14 court appearance to assert he would fight the petition, one of Simpson’s eyes was barely open and, he said, he would need at least another surgery to repair it.
Simpson was injured during the pursuit of his son who was allegedly driving a stolen vehicle. A high-speed chase followed through Walters and into the county and backup officers from the police and Cotton County Sheriff’s Office joined the pursuit, including Sheriff Simpson.
Travis Simpson got away but later turned himself in. He made his initial appearance in court on three separate cases. He received felony charges of seconddegree burglary and larceny, records indicate. He also appeared for felony charges of endangering others while eluding/attempting to elude police and unauthorized use of motor vehicle and another count of unauthorized use of motor vehicle, along with two misdemeanor counts of driving with a cancelled/suspended/revoked license as well as a misdemeanor count of removing proper or affixing improper license plate, records indicate.
He was later charged for the Oct. 1, 2018, burglary of the Walters Cemetery. He was accused of breaking into the cemetery equipment barn and stealing power tools along with a 1981 John Deere tractor. Travis Simpson was later identified as the suspect by informants who contacted the police.
• Simpson is alleged of negligence in updating the sex offender registry list as well as failing to keep an inventory list of evidence held by his department as well as of the department’s weapons cache.
• The final new allegation is that on May 12, Simpson brought his wife’s unidentified prescription medicine to an inmate at the jail for his personal use.
The petition closes with the Board of County Commissioners request that Simpson remain suspended from office as already ordered by the court on June 10 and that he be removed from office for willful or habitual neglect of duties and for willful maladministration.
No criminal charges have been filed against Simpson; however, the District Attorney’s Office has indicated that misdemeanor of felony charges could potentially be filed at a later date.
Simpson has served as Cotton County Sheriff since 2013. He succeeded long-time Cotton County Sheriff Paul Jeffrey.
Associate District Judge Michael C. Flanagan has ordered that Simpson return to court for a dispositional hearing is scheduled for 10 a.m. Aug. 15 for placement on the October trial docket.