Former Brown County Commissioner Precinct 1 Steve Adams was booked into the Brown County Jail on Thursday to continue his 15 day jail sentence as part of his recent plea agreement. On Saturday, January 28 Adams reported to serve one day of his 15 day sentence at the Brown County Jail and was released the next day, which caused a stir with the Texas Attorney General’s Office.
According to jail records, Adams was listed as a “weekender” which the Attorney General’s Office (AG) stated was not in accordance to his plea agreement.
Brown County Sheriff Bobby Grubbs came under fire as granting special privileges to Adams, which he strongly denies.
“When Steve told me he was going to make a plea agreement, I told him he would not get any special treatment and that he would have to get an order from the courts to serve weekends,” said Grubbs. “I did not ask for this (weekender status), it was suggested by the Probation Office Director Joe Shaw in a letter to the Jail. We honored it as we always do. I don’t make any special deals.”
Captain Tony Aaron also spoke of the common practice of weekender status.
“It’s not uncommon for people on parole to serve weekends,” said Aaron who explained that they did not make the decision to let Adams serve weekends. “We don’t ever make that determination.”
Sheriff Grubbs learned of the problem when he was contacted by the Attorney General’s Office.
“We got a call from the AG’s office that they did not intend for him to serve weekends in the plea agreement, the term was to be 15 days straight,” said Grubbs. “Once we were informed, we took steps to rectify this. I make no apologies for the way this started out because we were following procedures.”
The Sheriff showed a copy of the letter to Brownwood News, which was dated January 25, 2012, addressed to Becky Caffey, jail administrator, and signed by Director Joe Shaw of Community Supervision & Corrections Department 35th Judicial District. It states the following:
“As part of the conditions of probation for Steven Doyle Adams, the following jail time was ordered by the court on January 20, 2012.
19. Defendant is confined to the local County Jail for fifteen (15) days beginning on or before February 4, 2012.
Mr. Adams may complete the 15 days on weekends until the time has been completed per jail records. Mr. Adams may begin serving the time ordered prior to February 4, 2012 by coordinating with the jail.”
Adams turned himself in Thursday morning to serve the remaining 14 days of his confinement, given credit for the day he served over the previous weekend. Grubbs stated that the remaining term will be served in consecutive days.
“Adams turned himself in this morning, he had until Saturday, and will be here 14 days straight as ordered,” said Grubbs. “He won’t receive any preferential treatment other than being isolated for his own safety. He will be treated like all the other inmates are treated.”
Grubbs explained that the isolation is jail policy for high profile or public figures for their safety.
“Basically he will be isolated. High level public figures like him we usually separate to avoid the possibility of an assault, because of our concern for his safety. He will not be allowed to work the road crew either,” said Grubbs. “Donnie Barnum was kept by himself for the same reason, it’s our policy.”
Sheriff Grubbs stated that he has tried to keep his office out of the politics of Adam’s case but has still received criticism for not investigating the offense in house.
“We have received some criticism by asking the Texas Rangers to investigate this. We’d rather have an outside agency that is unbiased investigate cases like this,” said Grubbs. “The Rangers have done this for years, they are good at it and they did a fair investigation.”
Adams will remain in the jail through February 15th. Adams plead guilty through a plea agreement on January 20, 2012. Under the agreement, Adams would plead guilty to a lesser charge of third degree felony charges of theft over $20,000, under $100,000 by a Public Servant, as alleged in the Sept. 29, 2011 indictment. Additionally the Judge Moore ordered Adams to pay a $5000 fine that day, and make a $26,000 restitution payment to Brown County. It was also ruled that Adams will serve fifteen days in the Brown County Jail.
