The city of Selma’s information technology director has been arrested for pawning city-owned cell phones, Dallas County Sheriff Mike Granthum said today.
John Louis Kinnerson Jr., age 42, was charged with first-degree theft of property and use of official position or office for personal gain. The arrest was announced at a joint news conference Thursday by Granthum and Selma Mayor James Perkins Jr.
Kinnerson was arrested July 9. He is out of jail on $60,000 bond. This amount of the theft makes the crime a first-degree felony, according to Granthum.
Perkins said Kinnerson was fired, and “necessary steps were taken to secure all of the city’s IT systems, the data and all services.” The city currently has no IT director, but the city has a good relationship with several IT companies, Perkins said.
Granthum said that Kinnerson’s name showed up on an online system the sheriff’s office uses to track items pawned at pawn shops and pawn kiosks. “During the process (of pawning an item), you have to use a driver’s license or some form of ID, and (the system) takes a snapshot,” Granthum said.
Through this system, investigators found that Kinnerson sold 40 “fairly new” iPhones in the first week of July, according to Granthum.
Perkins explained that the iPhones were ones that had been replaced when the city upgraded to newer phones. While government entities can sell equipment if it’s declared surplus, the phones in question had not been declared surplus, and an individual can’t sell city-owned property, Perkins said.
Perkins said Granthum made him aware of the situation on July 3, and his office worked with an investigator to provide information for the investigation. Granthum praised this quick response. “This is how government is supposed to work together,” Granthum said.
Perkins said he called Kinnerson, who was on a scheduled vacation, into the office on July 9, “at which time Mr. Kinnerson’s employment with the city was ended.”
“This type of illegal activity and unethical behavior will not be tolerated,” Perkins said.
Granthum and Perkins both said although at this time it appears Kinnerson was acting alone, the investigation is ongoing.
Kinnerson is the second city of Selma department director arrested for theft in the last year. Interim Fire Chief Franklin Edwards was arrested for theft in July 2024. Edwards was convicted and sentenced to 10 years in prison in April on an unrelated charge of leaving the scene of an accident in Jefferson County that involved a fatality. Edwards was serving as interim fire chief while out on bond on that charge.
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