Smith County Sheriff Larry Smith said on Monday that it appears recent allegations against First Assistant District Attorney April Sikes are politically motivated.
In December, Smith County Prosecutor Jacob Putman filed a formal complaint with the Texas Rangers. In that complaint, Putman claimed April Sikes had been falsifying government records.
The report did not give specifics on what type of records had been allegedly falsified. It did show that, by filing the complaint, Putman hoped to gain whistleblower status.
The report written by Texas Ranger Nicholas Castle read: "Mr. Putman advised he did not 'really care' if the information was acted upon and was reporting the criminal violations in order to assure he was afforded 'whistleblower' protections should Mr. Bingham try to fire him."
"The timing just doesn't seem right," said Sheriff Smith.
The report went on to say that, "Mr. Putman further advised he believed another candidate was going to file on the upcoming Monday morning (12/11/2017) at which time Mr. Putman anticipated Mr. Bingham and Ms. Sikes would, 'drag my name through the mud' and make sure Mr. Putman was not elected."
The candidate that Putman was refering to is his current opponent Alicia Brakley.
Documents also showed that during a meeting with Texas Ranger Castle, Putman claimed that District Attorney Matt Bingham and Sheriff Smith were warned of the misconduct but did not do anything about it.
The documents read: "Mr. Putman further advised Smith County District Attorney Matt Bingham, Smith County Sheriff Larry Smith and numerous other Smith County officials were made aware of the alleged criminal violations committed by Ms. Sikes, however, per Mr. Putman's account, all parties failed to act on the allegations as Mr. Putman deemed appropriate."
Sheriff Smith said he never received a formal complaint but was instead carbon copied on an email regarding the allegations.
"If it were intended for us to take action and do an investigation it was very much the wrong way to do that," said Smith. "The way you report a crime is you call our number."
Following the formal complaint filed to the Texas Rangers by Putman, the Texas Department of Public Safety announced it did not find enough evidence to continue a criminal investigation against Sikes,
A letter written to Putman by Texas Ranger Richard Henderson reads: "Based on our assessment of the information provided as well as an independent review into the allegations concerning April Sikes and the falsification of time sheets during her employment at the Smith County District Attorney's Office, we have determined there is insufficient evidence of any action that would warrant a criminal investigation by the Texas Rangers Public Integrity Unit."
Sikes said she does not understand why Putman would raise those allegations against her.
"It is horrifying to me that one of my coworkers would file a false report against me with the Texas Rangers solely for his own political gain," said Sikes. "This entire event as you can imagine has been awful, a nightmare for my family and for me."
CBS19 reached out to Putman for comment, but he did not return the call.
He released a statement on Monday morning that read in part: "I took a sworn oath to uphold the law and reporting what I believed, and still believe, to be ongoing criminal conduct by April Sikes, is what the whistleblower act was enacted to protect."