Prosecutors: Former sheriff said he 'would not be taken alive'

Jan. 27—The former Greenup County Sheriff accused of stealing from the department coffers is awaiting trial in jail, after a federal judge ruled last week he posed a danger to the community.

Keith Cooper, 69, is sitting in the Grayson County Detention Center on a two-count federal indictment charging him with stealing money from the department's asset forfeiture fund and sending falsified paperwork to the Attorney General's Office to cover his tracks.

While usually a white-collar case like this would see the defendant on bond, the assistant U.S. Attorneys for Middle Tennessee (where Cooper was living at the time of the indictment) moved to have Cooper held in pretrial detention due to threats that he would shoot it out with the law if they came after him, according to court records.

According to the motion for detention, Cooper became aware authorities were on to him in 2016, when an audit released by the state showed accounting issues with his department, records shows.

During probes into his department, records show Cooper told his deputies "that he would resort to violence to avoid the consequences for his actions."

"For example, Cooper told different deputy sheriffs that he possessed an 'arsenal' and would not be taken alive, that he would kill whomever came to arrest him, that he would start a shootout requiring multiple body bags and that he would never go to jail," prosecutors wrote.

On Friday, prosecutors successfully argued their case against Cooper, leading a judge to sign off on a detention order, who cited "the inability of conditions of release to reasonably assure the safety of others."

Court records show the judge heard from an FBI agent and heard record interviews with Greenup County Commonwealth Attorney Mel Leonhart and at least one Greenup County deputy. He also heard from members of Cooper's family.

(606) 326-2653 — henry@dailyindependent.com