SUSPENDED SHERIFF DENIES WRONGDOING

Suspended Hockley County Sheriff David Kinney said he was caught
off-guard after a civil case to have him permanently removed from
office was filed Thursday and denied any wrongdoing.

A Lubbock judge temporarily removed Kinney from office without pay
after Hockley County Attorney Christopher Dennis filed a lawsuit against him.

The suit accuses Kinney of incompetence due to the arrest of two of
his deputies on charges of drug trafficking and other abuses of power.

I totally deny any of these charges," Kinney told The
Avalanche-Journal in a phone interview this morning. "They're not
really charges, they're allegations."

Kinney has served as sheriff since January 2005, and was re-elected
in November for a second four-year term. He has been employed by the
department in some capacity for more than 20 years, according to court filings.

A restraining order filed with the suspension restricted Kinney from
accessing property or talking with anyone that could be involved in the case.

Kinney is in the process of hiring an attorney, he said, so he can
challenge the order at an Aug. 24 hearing to determine whether or not
the injunction is necessary.

Hopefully I can get these things straightened out by then," he said.
"I thought we had a free country here but they've locked me down to
where I can't talk to anybody."

Transcripts of phone conversations gathered in the federal
investigation of former Hockley County deputies Gordon Bohannon and
Jose Quintanilla, both accused of participating in a major meth ring,
were used to gather evidence for the civil case with cooperation from
the U.S. Attorney's office, Dennis said.

Kinney said those tapes, which court documents say detail his
involvement in the illegal arrest of a federal informant, provide no
basis for the petition filed against him.

I didn't do anything," he said. "I hope they play every one of those tapes."

Kevin Davis, a Hockley County district attorney investigator, has
been named temporary sheriff until the litigation concludes. Until
then, Kinney said he will be looking for a job.

I was not concerned because I didn't have anything to do with any of
this stuff," he said of the investigation.