Johnson County sheriff’s wife under fire as head of child abuse advocacy center
A petition calling for the wife of Johnson County Sheriff Adam King to be removed from her position as head of a nonprofit that supports victims of child abuse had collected nearly 500 signatures as of Thursday afternoon.
Tammy King, the executive director of Children’s Advocacy Center of Johnson County, recently organized a GoFundMe to raise money for her husband’s legal defense. A grand jury indicted Adam King last week on two felony charges of retaliating against a witness and one misdemeanor charge of abuse of office involving sexual harassment.
In the GoFundMe, which has since been taken down, Tammy King wrote that the accusations against her husband are false and the criminal charges are the result of “lies and corruption.”
The Change.org petition’s organizers say Tammy King’s public stand creates a “profound conflict of interest” with her job.
“An executive leader of a child advocacy nonprofit should never publicly discredit victims of abuse,” the petition states.
The petition also calls for members of the advocacy center’s board of directors to take accountability for supporting the fundraiser and insists on a change of leadership at the board and executive level. The fundraiser was taken offline after members of the community reported it as violating GoFundMe’s rules, the petition’s organizer, Andrew Rogers, said in an email to the Star-Telegram.
“We have no comment,” a spokesperson for the Children’s Advocacy Center told the Star-Telegram by phone Thursday morning.
Adam King, who is in his third term as sheriff, is accused of making repeated and unwelcome sexually-charged remarks toward female employees, showing favoritism to women who spent time alone with him, and threatening his chief deputy to stay quiet about it, according to the indictments. He was arrested Aug. 27 after a Texas Ranger investigation and placed himself on administrative leave the following day.
The sheriff’s attorney, Bill Mason, said in a statement that Adam King “would not, and did not, do anything wrong, inappropriate, or illegal,” Star-Telegram media partner WFAA-TV reported.
More than 200 Johnson County residents gathered Tuesday night at a conference center in Cleburne to show their support for the indicted sheriff.
At the meeting Tuesday, King’s supporters split into three groups to plan how best to support him: one group focused on prayer needs, another on organizing financial help for King’s legal fees and the third on putting together a “PR strategy.” They discussed plans to set up an account at a local bank in hopes that contributors to the GoFundMe whose donations were refunded will deposit them to that account.
Staff writer Lillie Davidson contributed to this report.
