By Associated Press
Mobile, AL – Authorities investigating suspended Mobile County Circuit Judge Herman Thomas have received complaints that he spanked some prisoners in a room at the courthouse.
The Judicial Inquiry Commission has already filed 30 charges against Thomas for violating Alabama's canons of conduct for judges, including helping his cousin manipulate a jail sentence and taking cases away from other Mobile County judges without their permission.
Thomas faces trial October 29th before the state panel and if the charges are proven, he could be removed from office.
An article in Wednesday's Press-Register newspaper quoted unnamed courthouse sources as saying authorities are investigating allegations made by several young men who said they were removed from the county jail and taken to a room at the courthouse, where Thomas ordered them to drop their pants.
The 46-year-old Thomas has been a circuit judge since 1999. He also served as a district judge from 1995-1999.
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)