Jason Dobbins, a former KnOX County Assets Valuer Phil Ballard and a former Knox County trustee office, on August 26. The Knox County Criminal Court has not been guilty of charges against official misconduct.
The couple will return to court in October for a status hearing. The listening lasted all two minutes.
The one -off accusation of the Ballard stems from his personal use of the County SUV, despite the acceptance of compensation benefits for the use of his own vehicle, and two Dobbins’ allegations are related to publicly unrealized information to make high personal profits.
Ballard’s lawyer T. Scott Jones filed an innocent request on behalf of his client. Dobbins did not come to court, although his lawyer Stephen Ross Johnson had previously filed an innocent guilt with the court.
Ryan Desmond, a lawyer for the Blount County, who took a criminal case after the Knox County da Charme Allen retreated, said the criminal court Judge Kelly Thomas Jr. He can bring a lawyer from the controller office as a special advisor to help him when the case progresses.
As we got here
Both Dobbins and Ballard were a month -long Knox news survey of county offices and how the office owner abused taxpayers’ dollars.
The Tennessee Treasury Controllers announced on August 8. A report that mainly reflects the actions of Knox News on the actions of Ballard, Dobbin and Trustee Justin Biggs. The prosecutor, under the supervision of the case, recommended that Biggs, but the great jury refused to support the indictment.
The Comptroller’s report states that Dobbininkai and the partner paid $ 3,732 for two parties with unpaid taxes in South Knoxville, and after he was in 2025. Turned them after eight months, for $ 67,000. Knox News first reported sales and profits.
The report states that Dobbins earned $ 38,125 in 2024, with a wholesale sale of assets, some of which included tax payments of real estate.
Dobbins, who has access to real estate information against the public, will make up the property under the contract and sell it to another buyer without buying it. Dobbins told investigators that all the information he used for transactions was open to the public, but the controller found that Dobbins had access to information against tort real estate tax list.
In addition, Dobbins drove a county truck for personal use, the report said. The report did not provide a breakdown to where he was driving, but Knox News previously reported a county -leased truck standing daily at Dobbins’ home address, often driven on weekends. In November, the same truck was used for 290.3 miles to travel to Bristol, Virginia.
Separately as April Reported Knox News, investigators found that Ballard was driving a County SUV while compensating for the use of his personal vehicle for travel. The controller’s investigation said investigators found that Ballard had used in 2022. Ford Explorer approximately 150 times from 2024. September-2025. January
The report states that Ballard knew he should not use the county vehicle, but still did so. Ballard returned part of his travel allowance worth $ 2,776.95.
“Investigators could not determine whether the Ballard used the county’s vehicle only for the county’s business purposes, because the vehicle was not equipped with GPS, despite the fact that they demanded county policy,” the report said.
Journalist Myron Thompson contributed to this post.
Tyler WHetstone is a study reporter focused on reporting journalism. E -mail Email: [email protected]; X: @Tyler_whetstone
This article initially appeared at Knoxville News Sentinel: Knox County Officials do not take guilt for official misconduct accusations