Employee says Sheriff Mike Blakely called from Las Vegas casino to ask for $1,000. She sent it.
$5,000 Welcome Bonus
Several Limestone County Sheriff’s Office employees testified for the prosecution Wednesday in Sheriff Mike Blakely's corruption trial.
One employee testified she gave Blakely $1,000 from her emergency savings.
Debbie Davis says she's been a lifelong friend of Blakely. She's worked for him for 18 years and has known him for longer.
She says in 2016 she received a call from the sheriff while he was out of town. He was supposed to be at a training conference in Gulf Shores, but was actually in Mississippi.
Blakely's attorneys explained a vendor at that conference invited him to go to Biloxi with him and other commissioners.
Davis said it wasn't unusual for Blakely to call since he's always checking up on the sheriff's office when he's out of town. She says during their discussion Blakely told her he was at a casino and asked her for $1,000.
She didn't know what the money was for, but she assumed it was for gambling.
Davis says she spoke with her husband and both agreed to lend him the money because "it's no fun to be in a casino when you're losing."
She says she was never intimidated, threatened or forced to give him the money.
When asked by the state, Davis said she's loaned that kind of money to her friends before, though not often. She also said that even if Blakely wasn't sheriff she'd give him the money.
Davis says Blakely paid her back immediately after he returned from his trip.
