‘Do some ungodly things’: Details of lewd allegations against Johnson Co. sheriff
The Johnson County sheriff who faces criminal charges of abusing his office repeatedly harassed his female subordinates and threatened his chief deputy to keep it quiet, according to an indictment obtained by the Star-Telegram.
Four pages of indictments from a county grand jury reveals lurid details of how, on multiple occasions between February 2024 and July 2025, Sheriff Adam King made several unwelcome and sexually charged remarks toward women in his office. The indictments also detail how King retaliated against an employee and his department’s chief deputy after both of them reported the behavior.
The third-term sheriff was arrested by the Texas Rangers on Wednesday. He faces two felony counts of retaliation against a witness and one misdemeanor count of abuse of office related to sexual harassment.
Authorities say the charges followed a weeks-long investigation by the Rangers.
On one occasion, King instructed a female employee to remove her sweater, which was covering a V-neck blouse, according to the indictment. He told the employee that she would need to “disrobe” before he would sign any documents, which was a task required for her job. The sheriff also told her, “If you keep losing weight, you’re going to make me do some ungodly things to you.”
On another occasion, when the same employee told King she planned to arrive at work at 6 a.m. the following day, King responded, “that’s early enough that you don’t have to wear any clothes,” according to the indictment.
When the woman wore white slacks to work, the sheriff commented, “Back in my younger days, you wouldn’t want to know what I did to women wearing white pants.”
During a weekly all-female “teatime” hosted by the sheriff, he said, “Don’t tell people/your husbands sheriff puts his cream in your tea.”
King once instructed a woman in his office to back up so he could look at her feet, “then persisted to stare at the subordinate’s feet in silence,” the indictment said.
In addition to the verbal remarks, King was persistently “leering and staring” at other female subordinates, and would “openly display benefits” he gave married women who spent time with him, the indictment reads. Those benefits included taking the women to lunch, buying them jewelry and giving them access to his office.
King was also seen taking women into his office for closed-door meetings that would last hours, according to the indictment.
On multiple occasions, the sheriff commented on women’s physical appearance, telling one employee, “Mmm.... you’re looking good, keep losing weight. Your clothes are too baggy, you need some smaller clothes.”
When the first employee reported the harassment going on at work, King threatened to handcuff her and book her into the county jail, according to an indictment for retaliation. He also told other employees that he was trying to find the woman’s residential address.
King also threatened to “take adverse personnel action” against his male chief deputy when he learned the chief deputy had also reported the ongoing harassment, according to an indictment for that charge.
King, a Republican, was in the midst of his third term. He placed himself on administrative leave Thursday, according to a statement from the sheriff’s office.
Captain Ben Arriola was appointed acting sheriff, according to the statement.
“As this legal matter proceeds, we ask for the community’s understanding and patience,” the statement reads. “Sheriff King, like all citizens, is entitled to due process and looks forward to his day in court.”
“We trust the criminal justice system to find the truth and to deliver justice,” Johnson County judge Christopher Boedeker said Thursday.
This story was originally published August 28, 2025 at 6:45 PM.
