BEAUMONT — The Jefferson County Sheriff’s office has issued a statement in response to an indictment handed down Thursday involving two deputies currently employed by the department, a former sheriff’s deputy and a former Jefferson County District Court Judge.

All four of the indictments are sealed, but are believed to stem from a 2013 incident in the 252^nd District Court involving allegations of tampering with evidence. At the time, the court was presided over by Layne Walker, who is among those indicted Thursday.

The names of the sheriff’s deputies have not been confirmed.

“We are certainly surprised by the turn of events. This was totally unexpected. We will take the necessary steps to ensure the integrity and credibility of the Sheriff’s Office as we have always done in the past,” Jefferson County Sheriff Mitch Woods said in the Thursday press release.

Marcus McLellan, spokesperson for the sheriff’s department, said the department as of Thursday morning did not yet have the warrants or indictments.

The ruling, he said, was made yesterday after business hours.

“We are waiting on the indictments to come down before we take the proper action,” McLellan said.

When criminal charges are brought against a sheriff’s employee, the usual procedure is to place the employee on an unpaid leave of absence if an indictment has been handed down.

The case has handled by a special prosecutor Josh Schaeffer, with the Schaeffer Law firm. Schaeffer has not returned The News calls for comment on this story.

Walker served as former judge of the 252^nd District Court in Beaumont from 2003 until 2014 before stepping down to do consulting work for the Provost Umphrey Law Firm in 2015.

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