A Texas sheriff whose jail is holding Clearview AI co-founder and whistleblower Charles Johnson is himself under felony indictment for sexual harassment, witness retaliation, and aggravated perjury, raising new questions about law enforcement integrity in a case already shot through with concerns over surveillance, civil liberties, and official abuse.

In a dramatic turn of events, Johnson County Sheriff Adam King found himself in an unexpected position when he was apprehended by his own deputies in August. The arrest followed a Texas Rangers investigation that accused King of harassing several female employees and intimidating staff who spoke out against him. As reported by Fox 4 Dallas, a grand jury has since added a third charge of aggravated perjury to King’s legal woes. This comes in addition to two counts of felony retaliation and a sexual harassment charge, all claiming he provided false testimony to a grand jury regarding his actions.

King has entered a plea of not guilty at his arraignment, where the judge scheduled his trial for August 3, 2026. In the meantime, King is permitted to continue his duties under stringent conditions. These include limited office access, specifically three days a week from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., using a private entrance, and prohibiting contact with seven witnesses, primarily sheriff’s office staff and alleged victims.

Court documents, as highlighted by Fox 4, reveal accusations that King made inappropriate comments about female subordinates’ weight, looks, and attire. He allegedly suggested they wear makeup, offered favors to married women in exchange for spending time with him, and made explicit sexual remarks. Notably, he reportedly told one woman that her weight loss would lead him to “do ungodly things to her” and reminisced about previous inappropriate actions towards women in white pants.

In a particularly disturbing incident during a “tea-time” meeting with female employees, King allegedly joked, “Don’t tell people/your husbands, [the] sheriff puts his cream in your tea,” and later made threats against women who reported his behavior, including the threat of arrest.

This controversy adds to the challenges faced by the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office, the same department responsible for detaining Charles Johnson, co-founder of Clearview AI. This company is embroiled in a significant legal and ethical debate over widespread biometric surveillance. Recent updates on X indicate that Johnson remains in custody, having been incarcerated for 18 days at the facility managed by the embattled sheriff.

As detailed in the Substack report “Going Clearview: Inside Charles Johnson’s Legal Battle with His Former Company,” Johnson helped launch Clearview in 2017 alongside Hoan Ton-That and Richard Schwartz, then later sued them in federal court in New York in Johnson v. Clearview AI, et al. over his ownership stake and his ouster from the company.

The piece notes that Johnson has repeatedly warned about Clearview’s alleged “extractive and invasive” business model and opposed providing its facial-recognition tools to foreign governments for targeting civilians, describing the firm as a “criminal enterprise” he no longer wants to be associated with.

The same article recounts how Johnson told Judge Katherine Polk Failla that he had been contacted by federal authorities regarding Clearview, and that he is under court pressure to stop publicly talking about the case or posting about it on social media. A previous update from Johnson’s own Substack describes his ongoing professional and legal battles and frames his dispute with Clearview as part of a broader fight over the weaponization of AI surveillance against ordinary citizens.

The fact that a key figure in these surveillance and corruption scandals is now detained in a jail overseen by an indicted sheriff—charged with perjury and retaliating against whistleblowers—underscores the troubling overlap of government authority, police misconduct, and advanced surveillance tech.