Special to the Leader & Times

WICHITA — The Morton County Republican Party met last week to select a new candidate to fill the vacant sheriff seat.

Tom Thrall was selected in a vote by precinct committee members. His appointment is still pending approval by Gov. Laura Kelly.

If approved, Thrall will replace former Sheriff Thad Earls. Earls was removed from office in a recall election earlier this month.

The sheriff had been accused of multiple misdeeds, including mishandling evidence and falsifying employee time sheets, by the Board of County Commissioners and the county attorney.

The former sheriff denied any wrongdoing, saying that he fired the officer who mishandled the meth and that all county departments have incorrect time sheets, which are “revised all the time.”

In May, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation told KSN they had launched an investigation into the accusations against Earls.

Thrall shared his criticism of Sheriff Earls in May in an open letter posted to the Morton County Citizens Recall Committee Facebook page.

He said his previous law enforcement experience includes seven years with the Morton County Sheriff’s Office from 1993 to 2000, in which he served as a deputy, undersheriff and acting sheriff when the then-sheriff was recovering from a medical problem.