The ongoing saga of the arrest and jailing of the editor of the Fannin Focus and his attorney has apparently drawn the interest of the FBI. The original case against both, Mark Thomason and his attorney, was dismissed late last week but various news sources are reporting the FBI is talking to many people involved in the original dust-up.
The focus of the FBI inquiry does not involve the editor or a potential violation of his civil rights but rather on the judicial spending accounts of the Appalachian Judicial Circuit. The inquiry is reviewing checks written on that account as far back as 2013.
Chief Judge of the Appalachian Judicial Circuit, Brenda Weaver, has attributed the inquiry to “small town politics”. Judge Weaver is also the chairperson of the Judicial Qualifications Commission charged with investigating judicial misconduct.