Earnest Grubbs

A former Bedford County school resource officer waived his preliminary hearing today on charges he had an improper relationship with a 16-year-old female student. 47-year-old Earnest Grubbs is a former Bedford County Sheriff’s deputy who was fired last fall when the first charges were filed. He allegedly took off with the same Liberty High School student the next month until they were were found in Kentucky.

Grubbs waived a hearing today on five counts of taking indecent liberties with a minor, and those charges go before a grand jury next month. Prosecutors dropped an abduction charge and seven other counts, but Grubbs still faces the possibility of up to 25 years in prison.