Varnell police chief, wife charged with theft

By Kim Sloan

“I am not a thief,” Varnell Police Chief Tim Henderson said Thursday after being charged with violation of his oath of office, misdemeanor theft by taking and felony theft by taking.

Henderson, 44, of 114 Ann Drive, Tunnel Hill, and his wife, Pamela, 41, turned themselves in to authorities at the Whitfield County Jail Thursday afternoon. He is accused of taking a utility knife, a cordless phone system and detergent from the Walnut Avenue Kmart where he worked part time, according to Whitfield County Superior Court warrants for his arrest. She is charged with two misdemeanor theft counts.

Tim Henderson is on administrative leave with pay, said Varnell City Manager Jestin Johnson. Lt. Lyle Grant is acting police chief.

“I paid $2,000 for Christmas items from Kmart,” Henderson said in a phone interview Thursday evening after bonding out of jail. “Why would I want to take a telephone that costs $60?”

If convicted, Henderson could be sentenced to up to 15 years in prison on the felony theft charge and up to 10 years in prison on the violation of his oath of office charge. The misdemeanor charges carry a sentence of up to 12 months in jail and up to a $1,000 fine.

“For the people that believe in me, they know that I am not a thief,” Henderson said. “There will be no pleas in this case. I will be in trial. I have faith in the justice system to clear me.”

He said for the past year “I have been highly picked on by several entities,” but declined to elaborate.

Pamela Henderson is charged with misdemeanor theft by taking and theft of lost or mislaid property, also a misdemeanor.

Tim Henderson took a cordless phone system and some Tide laundry detergent while working as a cashier at the store on Oct. 6, 2007, according to one of the warrants. Pamela Henderson is accused of assisting him in that instance.

In a separate incident, Tim Henderson took a utility knife from a store shelf on Nov. 17, 2007, a warrant said. He told a loss prevention employee that the knife was stolen, according to the warrant.

Pamela Henderson is also accused of taking a wallet that an elderly woman “mislaid” on a counter at the store on March 19, 2006. She kept it “until confronted on the issue,” the warrant said.

Tim Henderson was released on a $10,000 bond Thursday afternoon, while Pamela Henderson was released on a $1,000 bond.

Assistant special-agent-in-charge Jerry Scott of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation office in Calhoun said the agency was called by District Attorney Kermit McManus after McManus received information from a manager at the store.

“Because of his position as police chief, I felt like an outside agency would be the appropriate agency,” McManus said Thursday. “My office is not an investigative office.”

McManus said he has contacted the state attorney general’s office to ask for a special prosecutor.

After a search warrant was served at the Hendersons’ home on Wednesday, Teresa L. Kohnle, 35, was taken to the Whitfield County Jail on a charge of misdemeanor possession of marijuana. She is charged in Catoosa County with felony murder and first degree arson in connection with the death of her husband, James Kohnle, 57, of Boynton. James Kohnle, a Dalton chiropractor, died of smoke inhalation from a fire at the couple’s home on June 29 of last year.

Kohnle was out on bond on the murder and arson charges from Catoosa County and living with the Hendersons, said Maj. John Gibson with the Whitfield County Sheriff’s Office. One of her bond conditions was that she live at the Hendersons’ home, said Catoosa County Sheriff Phil Summers.

Tim Henderson was employed by the Whitfield County Sheriff’s Office from March 1987 to February 1991 in investigations and patrol, Gibson said. He was a Dalton Police Department patrolman from February 1991 to August 1999. He was named Cohutta police chief in August 2001 and Varnell police chief in February 2003.

In a separate investigation, the Whitfield County Sheriff’s Office is looking into the theft of funds from the Varnell Police coffers. Johnson said about $800 was discovered missing in October.

“As far as I know, the investigation of the $800 has been handled and I have been cleared of that,” Tim Henderson said.