Deputy sheriff resigns in evidence, sex case; no charges filed in county

A Johnson County sheriff’s investigator has resigned following an Arkansas State Police investigation into whether he had oral sex with a woman and destroyed evidence.

A news release from Sheriff Larry Jones on Wednesday said Lt. Jeff Wood, 48, submitted his resignation April 28 after being suspended with pay in March pending the state police investigation.

Prosecuting Attorney David Gibbons wrote in a letter dated April 25 that there was not enough evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Wood had oral sex with Carrie Box, 39, last year.

According to reports from the state police investigation Gibbons released Friday, a deputy in the department showed photos on his cellphone to Jones that appeared to show Wood receiving oral sex from a woman whose face was not visible but who witnesses said was Box.

Wood and Box denied she gave him oral sex.

State police Special Agent Phillip Pierce interviewed Jaylan Alston, 53, who told him he learned of a video that Box had secretly made on her cellphone of the encounter between her and Wood. She told Alston, though, that Wood pushed her away and they did not have oral sex, according to Pierce’s report.

Alston told Box, according to the reports, that it was wrong to keep the video, and she gave him the phone. He contacted Wood and told him that he hid the phone in a cemetery in Coal Hill. Wood retrieved the phone and threw it into a body of water, the reports said.

Gibbons noted in his April 25 letter that the cellphone was not evidence because there was no investigation ongoing at the time.

Before giving the phone to Alston, Box had made a copy of two images from the video that later were shown to the sheriff, according to the reports.

The reports also contained witness statements that Wood had performed favors for Box. Wood signed a statement in December to help get Box’s boyfriend, Bobby Warnock, paroled from prison.

Wood also persuaded the victim of a burglary and theft committed by Box and Warnock to drop the charges, according to the reports. Wood and Box returned items stolen in the burglary and gave the victim $1,000 for items that were not returned.