A 29-year-old former Claiborne County sheriff's deputy has been charged with official misconduct after state investigators say he solicited someone as part of a murder-for-hire plot. Matthew Joseph Lucas Hopson, born July 6, 1997, was booked into the Claiborne County Jail on a $10,000 bond following an indictment handed up by a Claiborne County Grand Jury on August 13, 2026.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation announced the case Tuesday, identifying Hopson by his full legal name and confirming he was actively serving as a deputy with the Claiborne County Sheriff's Office when the state investigation into his conduct began, according to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. TBI agents gathered evidence alleging that Hopson solicited an individual as part of a murder-for-hire scheme, though state authorities have not publicly revealed the identity of the intended target or a motive. As WATE 6 On Your Side first reported, the arrest was formally announced Tuesday, capping a state probe that had been building for nearly a year.
That investigation was formally initiated in October 2025 at the request of 8th Judicial District Attorney General Jared Effler, following allegations of officer misconduct. The TBI's announcement emphasized that the charge remains an unproven allegation as the case moves through the courts.
A Single Felony Charge, With Bigger Questions Left Open
Hopson was indicted on one count of official misconduct, a Class E felony under Tennessee Code Annotated § 39-16-402, according to the UT County Technical Assistance Service. A conviction under that statute would also trigger a 10-year statutory disqualification from holding public office in Tennessee. Notably, the indictment contains a single misconduct count, and it remains unclear whether prosecutors will pursue additional or superseding indictments as the case advances.
The 8th Judicial District, which impaneled the grand jury that indicted Hopson, spans five rural East Tennessee counties — Campbell, Claiborne, Fentress, Scott, and Union — and its felony cases are prosecuted by Effler and presided over by Circuit Judge Zachary R. Walden, as Hoodline has previously reported. Claiborne County had an estimated population of 33,229 in 2025 and a median individual income of $28,190 in 2024, according to USAFacts.
A Personal Connection to the Prosecutor's Office
The indictment carries an added layer of local resonance. In April 2025, Matthew Hopson and his wife Carlie Hopson participated alongside DA Effler in the 8th Judicial District Walk for Victims in Tazewell, an event honoring Carlie's mother, Lori Ann Hopson; Carlie was identified as the featured speaker, according to the Claiborne Progress. Lori Ann Hopson, a Claiborne County Jail employee, was murdered in April 2024 — a case Hoodline covered in its original report on her husband Benjamin Hopson's arrest. Benjamin Hopson was later sentenced to 37 years in prison in connection with her killing.
Just six months after Matthew Hopson stood alongside Effler at that victims' event, the same prosecutor formally requested the TBI probe that would eventually lead to his indictment. The overlap between Hopson's public role supporting crime victims and his subsequent target status in a state corruption investigation has not been addressed in TBI's public statements.
Prior Allegations Involving Hopson at the County Jail
The TBI's public statements on the misconduct indictment do not address prior allegations involving Hopson at the county jail.
Local Context
The case against Hopson unfolded amid local reporting about Claiborne County law enforcement, according to the Claiborne Progress.
The case against Hopson also lands amid a broader pattern of TBI scrutiny of East Tennessee law enforcement. The agency's investigation into Hopson comes amid a series of probes into regional misconduct. The TBI regularly conducts these independent investigations into local officers at the formal request of district attorneys general, rather than on its own initiative.
TheSource LocalNews has previously reported on a separate TBI investigation into an inmate death at the same Claiborne County Jail where Hopson formerly worked, underscoring ongoing scrutiny of the facility. No court date for Hopson's arraignment on the official misconduct charge was included in the TBI's announcement.
