April 6, 2018 - A Shelby County Justice of the Peace is currently under investigation by the Texas Rangers and District Attorney's Office.
According to information provided to Shelby County Today by Stephen Shires, Shelby County District Attorney through an open records request, Jenny Hicks - Precinct 4 Justice of the Peace has been under investigation by the Texas Rangers for the alleged offense of Theft by Public Servant/Official Misconduct.
The information provided by the District Attorney goes on to explain the then-Mayor Carl Jernigan and then-City Marshal Jimmy Wagstaff discovered what they believed were certain suspicious resolutions of a handful of traffic violation cases handled by Judge Hicks while she was City of Tenaha Municipal Court Judge.
According to Shires, when the matter was brought to his attention, he referred the matter to the Texas Ranger Public Integrity Unit for investigation. This was followed by a preliminary investigation conducted by the Rangers.
The collection of additional information is anticipated by the DA, which he says is germane to the investigation, and once it has been collected it will be shared with the Rangers who will then finalize their investigation. At that time Shires can move forward with whatever action may be necessary.
Shelby County Today has been seeking confirmation on the allegations for several months from all agencies and public entities involved including the City of Tenaha, Shelby County District Attorney's Office, and Texas Department of Public Safety.
Since the case is still under investigation, it is the right of law enforcement entities to withold information until an investigation has been completed; however, a point of argument for Shelby County Today has been the basic information of the investigation can't be witheld and this was confirmed by the Texas Attorney General's office.
Although the City of Tenaha attorney's did not agree with the Texas Attorney General ruling and did not provide the requested information, the Shelby County District Attorney complied with the rule of law and shared the requested information with Shelby County Today.
At this time it's unknown how much money is in question regarding the "suspicious resolutions."
Hicks was Municipal Court Judge in Tenaha from June 11, 2009 until 2016 when Elizabeth Swint was sworn in as her replacement November 1 of that year.
More information on this investigation will be provided as it is made available.
