Sheriff Robert Arnold's Cousin fired from Rutherford Co. Sheriff's Office

Jan 09, 2017 at 06:27 am by bryan


Another Rutherford County Sheriff's Office employee has been fired. With the story, here is WGNS' Ron Jordan...

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Deputy James Vanderveer, Sheriff Robert Arnold's cousin, was fired this past week from the Rutherford County Sheriff's Office.

Evidently, Vanderveer was released from the department after he was involved in an accident that was deemed to be caused by careless driving.

In the past, Vanderveer was questioned by the TBI for pepper-spraying a confined inmate. At the time, Vanderveer was working at the jail as opposed to being a deputy on the roadways.

More from partner Paper The Murfreesboro Post:

Arnold hired Vanderveer as a jailer in 2011, and he resigned Feb. 7, 2012 shortly before being arrested on a DUI charge. He was rehired, and in December 2013 he put inmate Demario Harris in a restraint chair and sprayed him with pepper spray, an incident that led Harris to file a federal lawsuit against Vanderveer, another jailer and Arnold. The case was settled with Harris receiving $68,151.

Vanderveer is the son of John and Judy Vanderveer, who co-owned JailCigs, LLC, of Marietta, Ga., with Russell, according to Georgia state records. Their company had an exclusive deal to sell e-cigarettes to inmates at the county jail for $12.95 each, an alleged scheme that led to the indictment of Arnold, Russell and John Vanderveer.

They face a Feb. 7 trial on 14 counts of federal corruption charges.

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