Evidently Gil Gilbertson, who won a close election over Brian Anderson, had not taken office since winning the election in November? What about Dave Daniels the outgoing sheriff? Where was he when all this happened?
Sounds like the transition to the new sheriff could have been a factor.
The election was very dirty and the undersheriff was a lot to blame for it being that way... the same is true for the county commissioner's race the incumbent sheriff pulled out of, leaving only one leftist candidate on the ballot...
I am very suspicious of the whole dynamic involved and the local nepotism of it.