was the contribution made BEFORE the arrest?
The article excerpt is a bit vaugue by design. The newspapers write them this way to have the most impact when the “excerpt” pops up in a search engin.
So what? Some rich people whose kids turn out to be spoiled brats have attorneys on retainer. In this case, they have the sheriff pre-bribed. We have no idea how many 'warnings' she got prior to actually getting busted, that the contributions bought and paid for.
Perhaps the office of sheriff should not be an elected one.