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4 days ago
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Former Knox County trustee's office staffer Jason Dobbins charged with official misconduct
Jason Dobbins, the former Knox County Trustee's Office director of operations, was charged Aug. 8 with two felony counts of official misconduct in connection with a wide-ranging investigation into whether some elected officials and their employees were taking advantage of their public positions for personal gain. The Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury – the state's watchdog agency – spent months investigating the misuse of taxpayer dollars in some Knox County offices, including the Trustee's Office, that operate independently of the mayor's office. Dobbins is the second Knox County employee charged in connection with the investigation. On Aug. 7, Property Assessor Phil Ballard was charged with a felony count of official misconduct in connection with his personal use of a county-owned SUV while also accepting reimbursement for using his personal vehicle for work travel. Trustee Justin Biggs fired Dobbins April 14, hours after Knox News asked Biggs questions about the comptroller's investigation into trustee's office irregular spending on lavish hotel rooms and use of county-leased vehicles for personal use. The reason listed on his termination paperwork was simply 'policy violations.' Prosecutor Ryan Desmond sought approval from a grand jury to prosecute Biggs, as well, but the grand jury declined to sign off Aug. 6 on an indictment, Desmond told Knox News on Aug. 7. Trustee's office staffer Jason Dobbins benefited from inside knowledge Knox News reported in April that Dobbins had access to insider information – knowledge available only by request from the public – when he and a partner paid $3,732 in July 2024 for two lots with unpaid taxes in South Knoxville. Eight months later, the pair flipped them for $67,000. The purchases demonstrate how a lack of guardrails in the trustee's office opens the door for staffers to profit from purchases of properties with delinquent taxes. Dobbins was told May 10, 2024, the properties were scheduled for sale by the county in a tax sale, the annual auction the county runs to recoup delinquent taxes from property owners who weren't paying. The May 2024 email from trustee's office staffer Tanner Raley to Dobbins lists the two properties among a "prospect list" of 366 properties for the 2025 tax sale, which has not yet been scheduled. In July 2024, Dobbins and his business partner, John Lacy, bought the properties. There are thousands of delinquent properties every year, and it's up to the trustee's office to winnow the list to a manageable 150 or so for a public auction, or what the county calls a tax sale. It's up to the trustee to decide which of the properties assessed for potential sale are included in the tax sale. Dobbins told Knox News in April the actual price of the property, with taxes included, ended up being between $5,000 and $6,000, though the property and county and city taxes verified by Knox News totaled $3,732. Dobbins did not provide confirmation of additional costs. He sold the property months after he learned that his plan to build duplexes on the property would require a special use approval from the planning commission, Knox News found. Jason Dobbins drove county-leased vehicles out of state A county-leased truck parked daily at Dobbins' home address was frequently driven on weekends, according to GPS data reviewed by Knox News, and that same truck was used to take a 290.3-mile-round trip to Bristol, Virginia, on Nov. 15. County policy restricts county-leased vehicles from being driven outside Knox County, let alone outside the state. About the comptroller investigation into Knox County The comptroller investigation centered on the trustee's office using taxpayer dollars to pay for upgraded hotel rooms and club-level access at high-end hotels, as well as personal use of county-leased vehicles. Dobbins went on several of those trips and also regularly drove one of the trucks. Biggs' office is paying the leases for six new Chevrolet Silverado 1500 pickup trucks equipped with four-wheel drive. In the five years of the lease agreement, the trustee's office will pay $397,968 for the trucks, $200,000 more than taxpayers would have paid for the typical vehicles used by other county offices. Additionally, Biggs and his staff incurred $4,716.59 in costs that exceeded the county rate for hotel rooms. Tyler Whetstone is an investigative reporter focused on accountability journalism. Email: X: @tyler_whetstone. Allie Feinberg is the politics reporter for Knox News. Email: Reddit: u/KnoxNewsAllie Support strong local watchdog journalism by subscribing at This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Former Knox County trustee's office staffer Jason Dobbins charged with official misconduct Solve the daily Crossword
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4 days ago
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Knox County Property Assessor Phil Ballard charged with felony official misconduct
Knox County Property Assessor Phil Ballard was charged Aug. 7 on one felony count of official misconduct related to his repeated personal use of a county-owned SUV even as he accepted payments to reimburse him for using his own vehicle for work travel. Ballard became one of the subjects of a wide-ranging investigation by the state's watchdog agency into misuse of public money by Knox County elected officials and some of their employees. He was indicted Aug. 6 by a grand jury. Ballard will continue serving as property assessor, his attorney, T. Scott Jones, told Knox News. "I don't think he committed a violation of the law," Jones said. "I think it's best described as a 'much to do about nothing.' He will continue to hold office and serve the taxpayers of Knox County. He's innocent until proven guilty. He intends to avail himself in criminal court." Ballard was booked at the county jail, posted a $5,000 bond and left. The property assessor's office operates independently of the county mayor's office and is not subject to the supervision of Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs. Neither Jacobs nor the county commission have the power to discipline or remove people working in the independent county offices. Unless constituents go through the process of filing an ouster lawsuit or a recall petition against an elected official who gets in legal trouble, there's nothing stopping the official from serving out the rest of the term, running for reelection or running for another county office. An investigation by the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury – the state's watchdog agency – was turned over to Blount County District Attorney Ryan Desmond. His office is handling the prosecution after Knox County District Attorney Charme Allen recused her office. The comptroller's investigation began after an investigation by the Knox County Audit Office. Prosecutor seeks conviction for Property Assessor Phil Ballard After the Knox County Audit Committee began digging into allegations of excessive travel spending and improper use of county-leased SUVs by Trustee Justin Biggs and some of his employees, investigators discovered Ballard was routinely driving a county-owned 2022 Ford Explorer for personal use even as he accepted reimbursement for using his personal vehicle for work. Ballard told Knox News in April he didn't exclusively start driving the Explorer for a few months after he took office in September. He said he notified the county's human resources department that he was driving the SUV and receiving reimbursement for use of his personal vehicle, but a paperwork error prevented him from rectifying the situation. In January, he told Knox News, he followed up with the county's finance department and offered to pay back approximately $2,000 in allowance. Instead, he said, he was told the county would take it from three upcoming paychecks. County Finance Director Chris Caldwell told Knox News that Ballard asked to stop getting payments for personal vehicle use in January and the last payment to him was made Jan. 17. Caldwell said Ballard asked the county to start deducting the money he owed for accepting the reimbursement beginning April 11. "There were attempts to address what I think can be described as a misunderstanding early on," Jones, Ballard's attorney, told Knox News. "I think Mr. Ballard has paid far and above any 'extra benefit' he received back to the taxpayers." Ballard, 71, was elected property assessor in 2024, beating Jackie Raley by just 12 votes in the Republican primary before defeating Drew Harper in the general election. Ballard previously served two terms as property assessor – from 2008-2016 – and left office because he was term-limited. Ballard is paid $195,326.56 annually. Tyler Whetstone is an investigative reporter focused on accountability journalism. Email: X: @tyler_whetstone. Allie Feinberg is the politics reporter for Knox News. Email: Reddit: u/KnoxNewsAllie This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Phil Ballard, Knox County property assessor, charged with felony official misconduct
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16-06-2025
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Knox County leaders are in the dark on trustee's office investigation, but that may change
It's been just over two months since Knox News exclusively reported the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury is investigating the Knox County Trustee's Office. County audit committee members, who were some of the first to learn about Justin Biggs' spending, will meet June 16 for a routine quarterly session, but any updates on the investigation might not be public. The committee is allowed to go into closed meetings to discuss confidential topics, such as a comptroller's investigation. The audit committee oversees the county audit department, which ensures public money is properly spent, employees follow the law and government operates efficiently. Or they might not hear an update at all. County officials and community members are in the dark about the investigation. The state watchdog agency does not (and will not) publicly share updates during its investigations. All we know is that the case is ongoing, and Blount County District Attorney Ryan Desmond's office is already at work reviewing the comptroller's materials. Biggs is at the center of a Knox News exclusive report into how he and some of his staff members overspent on high-end hotel rooms and used trustee-leased trucks for personal travel. The investigation goes beyond the trustee's office. Since Knox News published its investigation, Property Assessor Phil Ballard and Matt Myers, the county's procurement director, have been snagged by investigators for using county vehicles for personal travel. Why it matters now: Biggs has not been charged with a crime. Two of his three predecessors in the trustee's office have ended up in criminal court following investigations, and it's noteworthy that the comptroller's office has already begun sharing materials with the district attorney. (Knox County District Attorney Charme Allen recused herself from the case, which is why it's being handled in Blount County.) Why it matters in the future: Biggs is running in a contested Republican primary to keep his job in 2026. Regardless of the investigation and its fallout, Biggs is free to finish out his term as trustee and serve a new one if he's reelected. When's the meeting? The county audit committee, which is made up of three Knox County commissioners, one member of the county school board and two community members, will meet at 1 p.m. June 16 in conference room 575 in the City-County Building, 400 Main St. If they don't discuss the comptroller's investigation into the trustee's office - or even if they do - they could also ask about the state watchdog looking into the Richard L. Bean Juvenile Detention Center. Knox News reported June 2 that state investigators on April 7 had talked to the facility's only nurse, Stefani Clowers, for an hour and a half that day. One month later, Bean, the superintendent of the facility named for him, gave Clowers a choice: Resign or be fired for "turning him in," she told Knox News. Clowers, a registered nurse, sounded alarms that facility leaders failed to follow medical best practices. She told Knox News she contacted six local and state agencies about errors in medication distribution and several instances when she felt children's lives were in danger. She repeatedly raised concerns to Bean and his lieutenant, Kay McClain, she said. Clowers refused to resign, was fired and then was reinstated a day later under pressure from Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs and Juvenile Court Judge Tim Irwin, who warned Bean his dismissals of Clowers and information technology specialist Thomas Cordell exposed the county to potential lawsuits that could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Cordell also took the offer for reinstatement. What we don't know: We don't know the extent of any state investigation into the detention center beyond the fact they were there in April. What we do know: Bean's firing of the two staffers and the alleged misconduct it revealed ushered a leadership overhaul. Bean resigned, and and the county is considering moving the juvenile detention center under the purview of the Knox County Sheriff's Office. Even if the state isn't investigating, the fallout will be noteworthy this week and next week in Knox County politics. The Knox County Commission will meet for its agenda review meeting June 16. The commissioners won't take any votes. It's just a time for them to ask questions about items on their agenda for next week. But a couple of notable items might raise questions, including moving the juvenile detention center under the control of the sheriff's office. But not everyone is on board: Mayor Glenn Jacobs is pushing for KCSO as the solution to overseeing the Bean Center, with an emergency ordinance to do so on the preliminary agenda. But other county leaders aren't so sure. How do other detention centers conduct oversight? Knox County Commissioner Courtney Durrett wants to create a committee to look into how other detention centers are run across the state. The commission could weigh in on her idea at the agenda review meeting. Study up: You can read about Durrett's proposal at Click "agenda" and select the "optional agenda review meeting" option. Another interesting agenda item... Knox County Commissioner Andy Fox, who represents South Knox County, is poised to introduce legislation discussing a "fluoride prohibition." I've been following Knoxville Mayor Indya Kincannon's sales tax increase proposal. Since the last edition of The Key: Knox News detailed the items exempt from sales taxes in Tennessee Kincannon released projects the administration wants to complete with the estimate $47 million in annual revenue form the increase The Knoxville City Council gave initial approval for the proposal to go on voters' ballots in November. The final vote will be June 24. Here are some news highlights from last week: Ryan Wilusz reported Trump fired another Biden appointee, cutting TVA board down to just three members Tyler Whetstone reported on an internal probe in the sheriff's office after it failed the family of a teen who died Keenan Thomas reported FIFA wants to continue turf research collaboration with University of Tennessee beyond 2026 I reported Jeff Talman will be on North Knoxville residents' city council ballots I detailed what Knox County did last time Knoxville raised its sales tax Allie Feinberg reports on politics for Knox News. Email her: and follow her on reddit at u/KnoxNewsAllie This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Knox County leaders may hear updates on trustee investigation
