Former Knox County Sheriff and career law enforcement officer Tom Spangler has died after a protracted battle with pancreatic cancer.
A product of rural East Knox County, Spangler, 67, graduated from Carter High School and was a longtime member of Clear Springs Baptist Church in Corryton. He parlayed his connections with those communities, coupled with a strong base of support from law enforcement, to easily win elections for sheriff in 2018 and 2022.
At one point there had been rumors about whether he would take that popularity and run for Knox County mayor, a campaign he declined to pursue.
Spangler started at the sheriff's office as a jailer in 1980. He climbed the ranks to become chief deputy under Sheriff Tim Hutchison, a role he continued
under Jimmy “J.J.” Jones. He worked as a patrol supervisor, headed the narcotics division and started the aviation unit. Before joining the sheriff's office, he served in the U.S. Air Force.
He retired from the sheriff's office in 2009. He was an avid fisherman, and he briefly pursued professional fishing. He participated in at least a dozen amateur bass fishing tournaments since 2022 with Tennessee Team Trail, which bills itself as “a premier amateur bass fishing tournament series.”
Soon after his retirement, he was asked to serve as the assistant chief of training for the Blount County Sheriff’s Office, where he stayed until December 2016, when he resigned to run for Knox County sheriff.
In 2024, Spangler was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, forcing him to delegate some of his responsibilities.
As he underwent treatment, he was out of the office more than normal, at times going weeks without making public appearances and leaving some to question who was running the sheriff's office. The cancer progressed in recent months and became a sticking point in the ongoing corruption prosecution of sheriff's officers because Spangler was unable to sit for a deposition.
Spangler's leadership of the sheriff's office drew criticism at times as several lawsuits asserted incompetent leadership that led to high-profile complaints of wrongful arrests, uses of excessive force and, at the county jail, deaths of inmates.
The most notable lawsuit was filed by the family of Conor Dolin after the sheriff's office botched two investigations into the 15-year-old's death, which led the Knox County district attorney to decline any charges in Dolin's death.
Knox News reported in 2024 how two friends and appointees of Spangler's, both of whom lacked proper state-mandated training, were allowed to go on an armed sheriff's office raid in 2021. The state later investigated the incident but did not discipline the sheriff's office. Spangler apologized for the "embarrassing" incident.
In May 2026, when 11 people connected to the sheriff's office were indicted for their roles in a scheme to swindle taxpayers of “well over” $300,000 from 2010 and 2018, Spangler tried to distance himself from them, saying nothing illegal happened during his term. Still, five of the men who were indicted were sheriff's office employees and several were on his leadership team. He endorsed one of them, Assistant Chief Deputy David Amburn, in a losing campaign for sheriff in the 2026 GOP primary.
Spangler was prevented by term limits from running for sheriff again, and he left office on Aug. 31. He was succeeded by Brent Gibson.
He is survived by his wife, Linda, their two daughters and sons-in-law, and multiple grandchildren.
Tyler Whetstone is an investigative reporter focused on accountability journalism. Connect with Tyler by emailing him at tyler.whetstone@knoxnews.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @tyler_whetstone.
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Former Knox County Sheriff Tom Spangler dies after long battle with cancer
