Walker County Sheriff Indicted, Arrested for Employing Untrained Officers

The Sheriff of Walker County has been indicted and arrested on a half-dozen misdemeanor charges alleging he illegally employed that many "officers" who had never been certified for their roles.

In our state, any officer at any department must go through rigorous training overseen by the Alabama Peace Officers' Standards and Training Commission, or APOSTC. Everyone gets the same uniform base training to ensure the police experience is not wildly different in Tuscaloosa and Trussville.

In court documents filed Monday morning, Walker County Sheriff Nick Smith is accused of hiring six officers who were never APOSTC certified.

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In a six-count indictment, a grand jury said there is evidence that Smith hired school resource officers, jailers and deputy sheriffs who were not APOSTC certified.

The SROs were Danny Alexander, Jeffrey J. Sparks, Sam Bennett and Gregory Shane Harrison. Harrison was also hired as a dispatcher and a deputy sheriff at times.

The indictment said Justin Kelley was wrongfully hired as a jailer and a deputy sheriff and that Andrew Neves-McDonald was hired as a deputy sheriff without the required certification.

According to the indictment, none of the men above were APOSTC-certified and hiring them was against the law. Smith is charged with six counts of violating the article of standards for employing law enforcement officers - each charge is a Class C misdemeanor.

Walker County's Chief Deputy Sheriff Ralph Williams was also indicted and arrested. A grand jury reported that there is evidence Williams knowingly lied to APSOTC about Andrew Neves-McDonald's employment as a deputy.

Williams is charged with providing false information to APOSTC, also a Class C misdemeanor.

Both men were briefly booked and have been released from jail on recognizance bonds.