A Knox County Sheriff’s Office
lieutenant arrested Tuesday afternoon in connection with a rape investigation
has been taken to the Blount County jail.
A Knox County grand jury
indicted Dennis Mills Jr., 43, Powell, for rape of a child, statutory rape by
an authority figure and incest. Authorities arrested him without incident in
Knoxville Tuesday evening. Mills was being held on $250,000 bond in Knox County
before his transfer.
Knox County Sheriff Jimmy
“J.J.” Jones made the decision to move Mills from the Knox County jail to
Blount County because of Mills’ affiliation with the Knox County Sheriff’s
Office and to “avoid any appearance of favoritism,” according to the KCSO
website.
Knox County District Attorney
Randy Nichols reiterated that Mills would know the people on the force and that
would supervise him at the Knox County Detention Facility.
“It was an unacceptable
circumstance,” Nichols told The Daily Times Wednesday. “(Blount County) Sheriff
(James) Berrong was kind enough to help us as far as housing. This way, we
could move it along in the system, to avoid any problems.”
The Tennessee Bureau of
Investigation began investigating Mills on March 4, at the request of Nichols.
His office, along with the Knox County Sheriff’s Office, assisted in the investigation.
The Sheriff’s Office placed
Mills on administrative leave without pay.