Shelby County Today

April 17, 2026 - The U.S. Attorney’s office has reported the sentencing of a Houston man to Federal prison for his involvement in a “Hook and Chain” crime spree in at least two states.

According to details in a press release Cody “break da bank cobo” Williams, 27, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bank theft and was sentenced to 60 months in federal prison by U.S. District Judge Sean D. Jordan on April 15, 2026. Williams was ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $71,639.

According to court documents, from June 2020 to June 2024, Williams was involved in a crime spree referred to as “Hook and Chain” burglaries, which involved stealing a truck, attaching hooks and chains to the vehicle, and using it to drag the door off an ATM to retrieve the cash currency from the machine. This crime spree involved several burglaries in Texas and Arizona, including the Texas Bank on South Preston Road in Prosper. The conspiracy resulted in a loss of over $400,000 in bank funds and damage to property.

Shelby County was the target of similar incidents during the same time period and law enforcement suspected the ATM thefts were well organized by a large group of individuals from the Houston area. In October 2020, thieves made an attempt at a “hook and chain” operation at the Shelby Savings Bank on Selma Street in Center when Center Police Officers interrupted that attempt and apprehended suspects Robert Washington, Jr. and Paul Benjamin Madison.

In November 2020, an ATM at Citizens Bank on Austin Street in Center was the target of a “hook and chain” involving a red 2000 Ford F-350 with a chain which was later located at a car dealership nearby. It wasn’t reported at that time if those involved were successful in obtaining any funds from the machine.

According to Shelby County court documents, cases against Madison which included two counts of engaging in organized criminal activity that were dismissed in consideration of convictions in Harris and Cass Counties for other crimes. He was sentenced to 10 years in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice Inmate Division, and is eligible for parole as of January 2025. Otherwise, his projected release date is September 2030.

Madison was sentenced to 10 years in Harris County for theft of property <$300K ATM; and aggravated robbery. In Cass County he was sentenced to five years for two counts of engaging in organized criminal activity.

Washington’s Shelby County case of engaging in organized criminal activity remains open as of April 2026; however, it is listed as being placed on inactive status and hasn’t had any new entries since August 2023 when his attorney withdrew as counsel.

According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, the case against Williams was investigated by the FBI, Fort Worth Police Department, and Pottsboro Police Department and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew T. Johnson.

Related articles:

• Center Police Officers Foil Bank ATM Theft (Update Oct. 22)
• Center Police Department Investigates Bank ATM Vandalism

April 16, 2026 - Officials with the National Forests and Grasslands in Texas, Angelina Sabine Ranger District will be conducting a controlled burn today, April 16, 2026, starting at 11am in San Augustine County at Black Ankle.

Smoke: Winds are out of the South and drift smoke may be noticeable in the area Forest and unit: Sbine, Black Ankle, Block B and C, Compartment 65, 1828 Acres

Type of ignition will be Aerial, and the projected completion time is 6pm.

Smoke will impact areas around the prescribed burn, and long-range drift smoke may be present during and after ignition operations.

Please drive with caution. Ground personnel will be operating in the area and smoke may impact visibility on local roads and highways near the burn unit.

For more information, contact the Angelina Sabine Ranger District at (936) 897-1068 or (409) 625-1940

U.S. Forest Service Prescribed Burn Tracker:
Please see the map of the projected burn area by clicking the following: Southern Region Prescribed Burn Accomplishment Tracker (arcgis.com)

April 14, 2026 - The commissioners were presented with a proclamation for April as Child Abuse Awareness Month in Shelby County during their April 1, 2026, meeting and they were addressed by Collin Mathews, Shelby County Children's Advocacy Center Board President.

"Denise and her staff are absolutely incredible. I think they've had 143 interviews and served over 200 families this year and last year," said Mathews.

He encouraged the commissioners to tour the Children's Advocacy Center and learn from the staff what they do every day, which he stated is "truly remarkable."

"Child Awareness Month is just a good time to really shine a light on the darkness that's often hidden," said Mathews. 

He further commented on the resilience of the children they serve and the fantastic job the staff does at the Children's Advocacy Center.

"I just want to brag on our partners as well because we have the Sheriff's Department, Police Department, and the District Attorney here and they are absolutely just you know the huge part of the the puzzle so we are so appreciative of all their hard work and we have honestly just the best team in Shelby County. We're proud of them," said Anna Register, SCCAC Forensic Interviewer.

Commissioner Roscoe McSwain moved to approve the proclamation declaring April as Child Abuse Awareness Month in Shelby County. Commissioner Shannon Metcalf seconded his motion and it passed with all in favor.

The commissioners considered the disbursement of the Child Safety Fee fund and County Judge Allison Harbison stated a portion is distributed to municipalities in the county. The commissioners then had $12,944.07 to consider splitting.

The proposed split was a 65%-35% split between Shelby County Children's Advocacy Center (SCCAC) and Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA). Judge Harbison said the split would net $8,413.65 to SCCAC and $4,530.43 to CASA.

Tonya Harry, director of CASA, shared some of their statistics and about some generalities about the placements they oversee.

"We served 41 children from Shelby County since April of last year. Some of those children have been in care for a long time. One young lady specifically has been with us since 2020," said Harry. "We did serve, we're happy to say, most of those kids with volunteers so only 13 had to be served by staff. Shelby County kids are not all placed in Shelby County, so we do drive as far as Port Lavaca, Bryan, Beaumont, Waxahachie. We hope one day that we have enough foster homes or relative placements here in Shelby County to be able to take all of our kids. We hope that for all of the counties that we serve, so that they can be closer to where they came from."

Harry said they are still in their location that CASA moved in to around a year-and-a-half ago, located on Southview Circle in Center.

"The Shelby County [Children's] Advocacy Center it's the same clients because our clients start with them, and so they're those first responders," said Harry. "All the first responders are here they see the children first, and do those hard interviews. We serve a smaller, more specific number of children, all the children that are in foster care for Shelby County. We stay with them anywhere from one year up to six, eight years. It depends." 

Harry continued, "For each child that comes into care, the older they are, their chances of being adopted are reduced. So I was happy to connect with Bob [Reeves] from Bonehill because we have a young lady that could be eligible for some scholarships. She was our speaker actually this year. She's from Shelby County. She's in nursing school now and in extended care. So we're really proud of her."

Judge Harbison invited Denise Merriman, SCCAC Executive Director, if she had any additional information to provide about the SCCAC.

"We just again appreciate the community support, it's so important because the Advocacy Center is a community-owned organization that we have the community involved in what we do," said Merriman. "We recently had a community engagement kind of push to have people come through and tour the Advocacy Center, [we] had several different businesses and groups come through. I really love to have the commissioners all come through and do a tour, and I think it helps understand all the different moving parts of what we do when you see our building."

Commissioner Bellmyer moved to dispurse the funds as outlined in a 65/35 split with $8413.64 going to SCCAC and $4,530.43 going to CASA. His motion was seconded by Commissioner Smith, and it carried with all in favor.

Bob Reeves spoke on behalf of Bonehill Foundation regarding Vocational Education Month.

"I'm on the Bonehill Foundation. We give away about $450,000 in scholarships only for Shelby County kids, vocational or undergraduate degrees," said Reeves. 

Reeves explained that the foundation has come to the conclusion around $200,000 doesn't get used in another foundation, and they decided to use the funds in a more productive way. 

"The foundation adopted a plan, a five-year plan, really it's a marketing plan. We want to market to all the kids, especially the parents in Shelby County, the opportunities of vocational education and that there's money available," said Reeves. 

Reeves explained they plan to change and adapt with the program as time goes on and hopefully reach students as early as in the sixth grade where the student and their parents might consider a future in welding, or an electrician.

During his presentation, Reeves informed the commissioners of the Vocation and Career Tech Day held at the Windham Civic Center April 7. He said there would be 10-12 businesses there, and military representatives.

"I'm going to tell you our secret weapon, our boots on the ground, is Ms. Copelin," said Reeves. 

He further commented that the Shelby County Chamber of Commerce through President Deborah Chadwick was extremely helpful in planning the event.

"You all know that no one does anything by themselves, it's always a team effort and and as Bob said, we have a lot of great resources in our county," said Copelin. "We want students to know they do have opportunities here, that they don't need to think, 'I need to get out of here as fast as I can,' and that just takes teamwork and it takes time, and so we appreciate your support."

Chadwick commented she was proud to have been included and that it is definitely the brainchild of Bonehill Foundation. She recognizes the importance of the program. 

"Most of our students cannot afford to go off to a four-year college, don't have the means of transportation and we want them to stay here and grow our county and support our county," said Chadwick. "I applaud Bob, and the foundation and Alease for taking the leap of faith."

Commissioner Tom Bellmyer moved to declare April as Vocational Education Month in Shelby County, and Commissioner Stevie Smith seconded his motion. It carried with all in favor.

While the commissioners reviewed the weekly expenses, Judge Harbison focused on the National Guard being in Shelby County and Joaquin Volunteer Fire Department providing them with facilities while they were in the area.

"During the ice storm, we were blessed to have a National Guard Troop sent to us to help,” said Judge Harbison. “Joaquin [Volunteer Fire Department] were gracious enough to house them for us for a week.” 

Judge Harbison explained the fire department supplied food for the National Guardsmen, as well as their facilities, and on a daily basiss they would work all day and then return to the fire department’s facility. 

“Their light bill is usually $200-$250, and they’ve got a large light bill of over $700 nearly $800,” said Judge Harbison. 

The total being $784.44 and Judge Harbison said that the fire department asked if they could get some assistance with the bill.

“I just think it’s the right thing to do, those guys went and worked all over the county they were just invaluable,”said Judge Harbison. “They saved the commissioners from having to go out and help individuals.”

Judge Harbison further commended the National Guard, “They just picked up the chainsaws and helped people, you know, get limbs off their homes and everything.” 

Judge Harbison further encouraged the commissioners to consider paying the utility bill for the fire department.

Commissioner Smith commented on the benefit of the fire department allowing access to their facilities during the storm.

“That was a great help, we also had the highway patrol was staging out of and all the first responders, and it got to where for a while we couldn’t get food anywhere and they were making something. I could go over there and get something to feed my hands,” said Commissioner Stevie Smith.

Commissioner Bellmyer also elaborated on the help he National Guard provided while they were in Shelby County.

“They were in Precinct 3 and Precinct 4 for days and it was a tremendous help in my precinct,” said Commissioner Bellmyer. “Not only just the saw work that they did, but they rode a lot of roads and identified hazardous areas so that we knew where we were going next, so it was a big help.”

Judge Harbison commented they National Guard also performed wellness checks on individuals to make sure they were in safe condition.

"I know that Joaquin is the volunteer fire department, but I think that we should support them in any way we can if they're going to offer their facilities for us to utilize," said Judge Harbison.

Commissioner Stevie Smith moved to approve the weekly expenses with the addition of travel expense for Juvenile Correction, and Commissioner Shannon Metcalf seconded his motion. It carried with all in favor.

The commissioners were presented with a resolution in support of the application for the Texas Historical Commission Courthouse Grant for Project Planning and Full Restoration Grants.

Rayford Copelin, representing the Shelby County Historical Commission, explained to the court what the application is for and confirmed to Judge Harbison that it's related to the grant, which the county sought to participate in during 2024.

"This is the second round. Again, we're asking the [Texas Historical Commission] (THC) to participate in their grant program to restore the Old Courthouse," said Copelin. "The last time we applied for a $10 million grant we finished about ninth in the rankings, because this is a point system as far as the grant goes. This year, the top four that got the money are out of the picture, but they've also, the state has allocated twice as much money this year and so we're hoping that we'll compete well in the grant system."

Copelin explained there are not a lot of areas that more points can be accumulated than they procured the last time, because such a good job was done then.

"I applaud y'all as commissioners for standing behind this and being able to say, 'hey, we're willing to take a leap of faith to get this courthouse restored,' especially when you're talking about a 400% profit or grant that y'all don't have to pay and anything like that," said Copelin. 

He said the resolution is showing their support and he anticipates further discussion as the process moves forward.

Judge Harbison read the resolution, which states: "And it's resolved that Shelby County Commissioner's Court does hereby resolve that it is in the best interest of Shelby County, Texas to apply for the Texas Historical Commission Courthouse for Project Planning and Full Restoration."

Commissioner Stevie Smith moved to approve the resolution of support of the application, and Commissioner Bellmyer seconded his motion. The motion carried with all in favor.

The Shelby County Sheriff's Department was seeking funding in the amount of $6,161.88, for the Sheriff’s Office historical data migration between Spillman (Motorola) Records Management System and the Current Kologik Records Management System.

"As anybody like Jennifer Fountain, and I know and you all know, whenever you do a conversion to a new system you have to get that data to put it into the new system and I think that that did not happen, or has not completely happened," said Judge Harbison.

Chief Deputy Mike Hanson concurred with Judge Harbison, and shared some of the complications facing the data migration and what sounds like are the potential risks of any entity utilizing strictly off-site data storage.

"It's been a difficult portion of the transition between the two systems. We knew that there's essentially about six to seven years of data that's in the old system, and there was a plan in place to migrate that through our current RMS provider Kologic," said Hanson. "Spillman has been, they've been hard to communicate with and possibly because they realized that we're trying to leave. We've made numerous attempts to try to rectify this and find the most cost-effective way once we saw what they wanted to charge, which our representative with Kologic said they felt was outrageous, but they're a big company and they've got our data."

Chief Hanson said they have considered alternative methods of storing the data; however, that hasn't resulted in a favorable solution.

"We've even went the route with Joey [Orellana], trying to discuss with him, is there a way that we can hold this data securely in-house? He had a plan for that. He talked back and forth with Spillman, because they speak the same language. There's really not a good way to do that either," said Chief Hanson.

Commissioner McSwain confirmed with Chief Hanson the effort the funding is requested for would transfer the data from the old system to the new system, and make it accessible from the Kologic system the Sheriff's Department now utilizes.

"We should never have never gone live with Kologic until we had that data, I mean I never did that as a clerk, we never went live until we had all the data available," said Judge Harbison.

Chief Hanson said the Sheriff's Department still has the Spillman system to access the non-migrated-data, but that it needs to be in the new system because it won't always be available in its current format at Spillman.

"And your people have to know they have to go back to that other one because we called during court, two court dates, and I had a gentleman who was trying to get his court case settled, and the county attorney's office had nothing on it, and Kim Causey called the dispatch, and they said, 'no, he's never been arrested,' and he said, 'I assure you I was arrested. I stayed overnight,' and I said, 'well, let me call somebody else,' so I called Tiffany [Curry] and was told that, yeah, she didn't look back at the other [system]. So you need to let your people know how important it is when somebody calls for records that they've got to check both databases. That is just vital," said Judge Harbison. 

Judge Harbison further stated that there's nothing more important in the record world than to not have a lapse in between.

Commissioner McSwain made a motion to move forward, ASAP and for the funds to come out of the Sheriff's Department budget. Commissioner Metcalf seconded his motion and it carried with all in favor.

The meeting adjourned at 10:41am.

Proclamation declaring April as vocational education month in Shelby County, Texas

Whereas a strong workforce is essential to the economic growth, stability, and long-term prosperity of Shelby County, Texas, 

And whereas vocational and technical education provides students and adult learners with practical skills, industry certifications, and pathways to meaningful, high-demand careers. And whereas skilled driving, mechanics, and other craft industries are vital to the infrastructure, businesses, and communities of Shelby County. 

And whereas, vocational training programs help students earn higher wages, reduce student debt, and enter the workforce with valuable job-ready skills. 

And whereas, Shelby County is home to outstanding school districts, including Center, Timpson, Tenaha, Joaquin, and Shelbyville. whose students can benefit from increased awareness of vocational and technical career opportunities, 

And whereas partnerships among schools, training institutions, local businesses, and community organizations strengthen access to workforce education and help prepare the next generation of skilled workers,

And whereas the Bonehill Foundation is sponsoring a county-wide initiative to promote vocational education opportunities, scholarships, training sites. and career pathways available to students throughout Shelby County, and whereas a countywide vocational education day will be held April 7th at the John Wyndham Civic Center in Center Texas, bringing together students, educators, employers, and community leaders to highlight workforce training opportunities. 

Now therefore, be it resolved that I, Allison Harbison, County Judge of Shelby County, do hereby proclaim the month of April as vocational education month in Shelby county and encourage all schools educators students parents businesses and communities community leaders to recognize the value of vocational and technical education to support programs that develop skilled trades and career training and to work together to expand opportunities that prepare Shelby County residents for successful and rewarding careers. 

Be it further resolved that Shelby County recognizes the importance of workforce development and applauds the efforts of the Bonehill Foundation and local partners in promoting career training pathways that strengthen our community and economy.

---

Proclamation declaring April as Child Abuse Awareness Month in Shelby County
Whereas during the month of April 2026, Shelby County Children's Advocacy Center will observe National Child Abuse Awareness Month to raise awareness of child abuse and neglect and create strong communities to support the strengthening and healing of abused children and their non-offending family members. 

And whereas each year, hundreds of Shelby County children are confirmed victims of child abuse and neglect, and its prevention is a countywide responsibility. 

And whereas Shelby County Children's Advocacy Center serves hundreds of abused and neglected children as well as their non-offending family members each year 

And whereas it is important to remember that children are our future and we must nurture and protect them and provide a safe environment in which they can grow and prosper. 

Now therefore be it resolved that the Commissioner's Court of Shelby County, Texas hereby recognizes and proclaims April 2026 to be Child Abuse Awareness Month.

In Shelby County, Texas and our dissolved citizens to work together to help significantly reduce child abuse and neglect in our community.

Agenda items approved during the meeting include:
1. Pay weekly expenses.

2. Ratify the Burn Ban.

3. Proclamation declaring April as Vocational Education Month in Shelby County.

4. Proclamation declaring April as Child Abuse Awareness Month in Shelby County.

5. Adopt the Resolution in Support of the Application for The Texas Historical Commission Courthouse Grant for Project Planning and Full Restoration Grants.

6. Record the notification of acceptance report for the closeout of Shelby County's LATCF grant award.

7. Disburse the Child Safety Fee Fund.

8. Funding, in the amount of $6,161.88, for the Sheriff’s Office historical data migration between Spillman (Motorola) Records Management System and the Current Kologik Records Management System tobe paid out of the Sheriff's Department budget.

9. Reapplication and resolution to move forward with the submission of a new grant/reimbursement request, for FY-27, to the Motor Vehicle Crime Prevention Authority.

10. Adjourn 10:41am..

April 13, 2026 - Center Fire Department fought a tree house fire at a residence at the intersection of Crockett and Thomas Streets in Center on Thursday, April 9, 2026.

Dark smoke was billowing from the back yard of the residence and could be clearly seen from the opposite side of the Center square.

A small fire in the back yard had gotten out of control and ignited a tree house located in the back yard, and engulfing other items that had been stored beneath the tree house.

The fire was also threatening a storage building not far from the tree house.

Firefighters arrived at the scene at around 5:20pm, neighbors also sought to help while the property owner was trying to put out the fire and kept it from spreading further before the firefighters arrived. Hoses were dragged from the fire truck to the location of the tree house, and firefighters began extinguishing the flames, preventing further spread of the fire.

No injuries were reported and Center Fire Department personnel left the scene at around 5:40pm.