FAQ: Questions answered regarding Alex Reed case

Since Alex Reed’s arrest last week, the man who’s served as chief of staff for Jackson Mayor Scott Conger has been arraigned in two counties and has been released.

Reed appeared in Chester County Circuit Court Monday morning after turning himself in for booking earlier in the morning. He appeared before Judge Teresa Scott handcuffed but wearing his own clothes as opposed to the prison jumpsuit he was wearing after spending nearly 48 hours in the Madison County jail ahead of his arraignment in Jackson on Friday. He pled not guilty to that charge.

Here are a few questions answered about the case as it stands after his arraignment in Chester County.

Question: What are the charges against Reed?

Answer: He has three charges against him. One count of stalking and one count of illegal tracking of a motor vehicle with an electronic device in Madison County. He has one county of illegal tracking of a motor vehicle with an electronic device in Chester County.

Q: What’s Reed’s role in Jackson city government?

A: Reed is a longtime friend of Conger’s and was his campaign manager in 2019 when Conger was first elected Mayor. Soon after his election, Conger soon announced Reed would have a role on Conger’s leadership team, a position that’s had different titles including city manager and chief of staff over the course of nearly five years. No matter what the title has been, he’s been the No. 2 person running the day-to-day operations within City Hall under Conger.

Q: What is Reed’s status with the City of Jackson?

A: Conger announced on Thursday that Reed had been suspended without pay and had turned in all his city-issued equipment. This is standard procedure for any city employee who’s been indicted by Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.

Q: When was this alleged to have happened?

A: All the charges are alleged to have happened in January of 2023. TBI’s investigation was conducted in September of 2023. He was indicted by the Madison County Grand Jury last week. He pled not guilty to the Madison County charges at an arraignment on April 6 and not guilty to the Chester County charge on April 9.

Q: Who are the lawyers in the case?

A: Reed’s defense attorney is Tim Crocker. The prosecution team consists of former U.S. District Attorney Mike Dunavant and Meghan Fowler.

Q: Why are Dunavant and Fowler prosecuting the case? And why did TBI conduct the investigation?

A: Jody Pickens is the District Attorney for Madison, Chester and Henderson counties. His office was asked to investigate the charges when Jackson Police investigated a complaint of stalking and illegal tracking and developed Reed as a suspect. When that happened, JPD asked Pickens to step in and direct the investigation. This happened in September of 2023. Once the investigation was complete, Pickens said he recused himself from the case because there’s a close relationship between Pickens’ office and the City because of their partnership involving the 26^th Judicial District’s Drug Task Force that involves Pickens’ office, JPD, Henderson Police, Lexington Police and sheriff’s offices from all three counties. Pickens said the City also funds one of the positions in his office. Once he recused himself, Dunavant and Fowler were appointed to prosecute by the Tennessee District Attorneys General Conference.

Q: What is the maximum penalty for these charges?

A: Each charge could carry a penalty of 11 months and 29 days served in jail and a fine of $2,500. According to Dunavant, if Reed is convicted of multiple charges, jail time could be served at the same time or consecutively, meaning essentially a potential of a year in jail for each conviction.

Q: What are the terms of his bond?

A: Reed is to have no contact with the alleged victim. He’s to temporarily surrender any firearms in his possession to a friend. He’s allowed no alcohol or illegal drug use and will be tested ahead of each court appearance. His bond is set at $5,000.

Q: When did Conger know about this?

A: According to Jackson City Councilman J.P. Stovall, Conger and City Attorneys Lewis Cobb and Teresa Luna told members of the Council they found out about Reed’s indictment and impending arrest about 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 3 – a few hours before Reed turned himself in to the authorities.

Q: How will the City continue its work without Reed serving in the chief of staff role?

A: According to Stovall, that was a question he asked Conger, and Conger’s answer was the department heads throughout the City are stepping up in their respective roles to fill any gaps that may arise in Reed’s absence.

Q: What’s next in the case?

A: Reed has a status hearing in Madison County Circuit Court and Judge Kyle Atkins’ courtroom on June 13. He has a preliminary hearing in Chester County on Aug. 15 in Judge Angela Scott’s courtroom. Until then, Crocker will go through the discovery portion of the case in which he’ll be given a rundown of the evidence the state has collected against Reed and he’ll prepare his defense case.

Brandon Shields, brandon@jacksonpost.news