The State will hold a formal hearing to consider the decertification of Fentress County Sheriff Michael Reagon and former officer Jerry Mifflin.
The lawyer for Reagon made the request Thursday in front of Tennessee’s Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission. Mifflin accused of completing required firearm training on behalf of the Sheriff last year.
“I done what I was asked to do,” Mifflin told the board. “I tried to keep everybody in line, keep everybody stuff, to get it done on time. We we was rushing for time, pushing time in. He didn’t go to the Sheriff’s Association, so he didn’t get them his extra hours. He come to me and asked me if I cared to help get those hours done. Me and my supervisor, I mean, put in a spot, you don’t know what to do. I completed his hours.”
Mifflin said he resigned earlier this year and has turned down other law enforcement jobs pending a decision from the Commission. He said the December event represented the only time he falsified training information for Sheriff Reagon.
Investigator Kevin Krieb told the Commission he visited the Fentress County Sheriff’s Office in January following a complaint. Krieb said the Sheriff was forthcoming in his interview. Krieb prevented the Sheriff from receiving an $800 salary supplement due for completing the training.
“If we did not intervene, it would have been paid to the Sheriff for this action that was created by both of these individuals,” Krieb said. “The six hours, once again, was fraudulently obtained.”
In his presentation to Commissioners Thursday, Krieb said Mifflin completed the training on Christmas Eve, 2024. There was no agreement or quid pro quo between the two.
“You still had time to do these hours on your own, you could have still done this before the end of the year, December 31st,” Krieb said. “He goes, ‘Yeah, you’re right.’ The hour still could have been completed by him. It wasn’t a December 31st event that they were scrambling, trying to get hours.”
The Sheriff told Krieb he would retire if he were decertified.
The TBI continues its investigation into the matter. According to Reagon’s lawyer, it may be several months before its work is done. He requested no action during Thursday’s informal hearing. The commission decided to hold on action against both men.
