JEROME, Idaho — Jerome County Commissioners selected Gary Taylor to serve as the new sheriff following the resignation of former Sheriff George Oppedyke, who stepped down amid an investigation into his alleged misuse of a license plate scanning system.
Taylor, who previously served as undersheriff for eight years, was chosen from a pool of three candidates on Monday morning. He will be sworn in on the morning of Tuesday, April 21, and will serve the remainder of Oppedyke's term until 2028.
Oppedyke's final day was April 18. He submitted a retirement letter in late March and relinquished his POST certificate following an investigation by the Idaho Attorney General's Office.
WATCH | New Jerome County Sheriff Gary Taylor on restoring trust after Oppedyke resignation—
The investigation centered on allegations that Oppedyke misused the Flock camera network, a license plate scanning system operated by the Twin Falls Police Department. The questionable searches resulted in a temporary suspension of access to the system.
A website that allows neighbors to view if their license plate has been scanned shows Oppedyke made over 1,000 searches for the same vehicle over a three-month period in 2025.
According to the Attorney General's Office, Oppedyke told investigators he was searching for his wife's license plate to test the network's reliability.
"A lot of the stuff went to the Attorney General’s office," Commissioner Ben Crouch said. "They couldn’t find anything to press charges for at least this particular time, so he decided it was time to retire and then head on something else."
"Well, he chose to retire and relinquish his POST certificate," Taylor said. "You’d have to ask him exactly why he did that."
Taylor told Idaho News Six he has been fulfilling the duties of sheriff for the past month as Oppedyke's departure approached.
"I’ve been running the department for the last month at least, doing the budget, paying the bills, doing all other things that the sheriff was doing my job as captain chief deputy," Taylor said.
Looking forward, Taylor wants to restore trust in the office.
"We have to get public trust back, trust from the deputies that work here, a lot of people that work here, and they’ve been in turmoil, wondering what’s gonna be going on, who may be their leader," Taylor said.
"So I think there’s been a little bit of turmoil, if you wanna say a little bit of disagreement, probably over the last six months of the department, and I think it’s important for the department to have a little time to heal," Crouch said.
"I will tell you that I’m very happy that he is our choice and that he’s kind of been righting things for six years as the undersheriff," Crouch said.
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