New bailiff assumes duties in Vernon County Courthouse

A new deputy from the Vernon County Sheriff's Office has been hired to take over the court bailiff's position currently held by Deputy Greg Prough. Deputy Evan Roux began training for his new duties on Tuesday.

Roux comes to the Vernon County Sheriff's Office from the Jasper area where he has two years experience in law enforcement with the Jasper Police Department. Roux is a fully commissioned peace officer. He holds a bachelor's degree in criminal justice, an associate's degree in law enforcement and is a certified Glock armorer.

Roux said he was looking forward to working with the sheriff. It's going to be a "great change," he said. "I think it will be a good step up for me." Sheriff Jason Mosher said Roux would be a "good fit in the courtroom." Mosher said there is a lot of public interaction that comes along with the bailiff's position and a deputy must have a lot of "people skills" to do the job.

During his training on Tuesday, Prough told Roux that about the best piece of advice he could give him was to "keep your eyes and ears open all the time." Things can happen anywhere in the courthouse. Prough mentioned an incident where a civil case resulted in one man pushing another down the steps and seriously injuring him and another incident where a man berated the judge until he sentenced him to 15 days in jail right then and there. Everybody in here is in trouble, he said, you never know what may happen.

Mosher said Roux will go through quite a bit of training. He'll have to be brought up to speed on courtroom policies, departmental policies, and such things as the specialized software now in use by law enforcement agencies. He won't be full time in the courthouse for a couple of weeks.

Mosher said Prough will remain with the sheriff's office. Greg has been wanting to do some other things, he said. The sheriff said one of the things Prough would be doing would be "high risk inmate management." That means handling dangerous prisoners whether they are in the jail or being transported to or from the Vernon County Jail from the courthouse, another city or the department of corrections. Prough may also get a chance to develop a list of the most wanted local criminals.

Courtesy of Vernon County Sheriff's Facebook Page