Sheriff Mike Blakely of Limestone, Alabama is, apparently, a fan of the old western TV show, “Have Gun Will Travel” that aired from the late ’50s to the early ’60s. So much so that he has a chess piece – a knight – engraved on his gun’s handle, just like the show’s main character had on his holster. Unfortunately, Sheriff Blakely’s lost his gun. He was recently out of the office for a month because of a bum knee. And when he got back in the office, he found his engraved gun, along with some cash, missing…
But as much as the sheriff may love his gun, he apparently didn’t care enough about it to, you know, lock it up. decaturdaily.com dishes the dirt:
Blakely usually carries the gun with him during work hours but said he probably left it on his desk underneath some papers while he was away. He hasn’t determined the amount of cash that was stolen.
He doesn’t seem to have been much more concerned about securing the cash in his office, either.
“At this point, we’re not sure if somebody cracked the code on the safe, or if, in haste, it could have been left open,” Blakely said.
But don’t worry, despite having been gone all that time, the local yokels are hot on the trail of the missing goods.
Chief Investigator Stanley McNatt said investigators are interviewing inmates that have trustee status. Trustees are allowed outside of the jail and are trusted with small jobs, such as cleaning offices.
“At this point in the investigation, we’re only interviewing inmates,” said McNatt, adding that no Sheriff’s Department employees are suspects. “It’s still very early in the investigation.”
So just to get the full picture here, Sheriff Blakely left his office unattended – an office where trustee inmates have the run of the place – for a month with his gun on his desk and the safe open. It almost makes Mayberry, where Otis the town drunk let himself in and out of jail when he needed to sleep one off, sound like Leavenworth.
We certainly hope Sheriff Blakely is able to recover his prized heater. But we we’re pretty sure the cash is gone for good. In the mean time, he can console himself with a shiny new IGOTD award. And we hope he’ll store it securely in his safe with the door actually closed and locked this time.