Todd Pate

Kentucky State Police arrested Breckinridge County Sheriff Todd Pate in Warren County on Monday on an warrant charging him with terroristic threatening.

Pate, 45, has been Breckinridge County sheriff since 2003, according to the sheriff’s department website. He was stopped about 7 p.m. on the warrant, Frankfort KSP spokesman Sgt. Michael Webb said Tuesday.

The warrant said Pate allegedly made suicidal and homicidal statements, Webb said.

Pate, who was pulled over in the parking lot of Days Inn on Scottsville Road, was also charged with failure to wear a seat belt, operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol or drugs, possession of an open alcohol container in a motor vehicle and failure to signal properly.

Bond was set at $2,500 for the seat-belt charge and $2,500 for the terroristic threatening count. Pate remains in Warren County Regional Jail, with a hearing scheduled for Friday.

Webb said the Elizabethtown KSP post was made aware of the warrant and that Pate could be in Bowling Green.

Breckinridge County Judge-Executive Maurice Lucas said Wednesday that he had not talked to Pate, adding that all he knew about the case was what he had read on the Internet and seen on a Louisville television station. Those reports said Pate’s wife, Kristi, took out the warrant, alleging that Pate had made threats to kill her and her parents.

Lucas said Chief Deputy Bruce Anthony was in charge of the county sheriff’s department. Lucas said he didn’t know the employee size of the sheriff’s department in the 20,059-resident county in central Kentucky. A county sheriff’s website shows a dozen people in the department, including Pate.

Lucas said Anthony and the sheriff’s department are taking care of the day-to-day concerns of the county’s law enforcement.

“I guess we are going to see this work itself out in the legal process,” Lucas said. “He (Anthony) is in charge.”

On the county sheriff’s website, the following mission statement appears: “The Sheriff and deputies of the Breckinridge County Sheriff’s Office are committed, by adhering without compromise, to our core values, in our resolve to providing all citizens of Breckinridge County the highest standard of quality law enforcement.” The website lists the core values as honesty, integrity, commitment, and excellence.

Also on the website, Pate offers this statement of his views as being the county’s chief law enforcement officer: “When I was elected Sheriff in 2003 I made a commitment to the citizens of Breckinridge County that this office would be committed to providing quality law enforcement to all county residents in a fair and impartial manner. I feel that this office has done just that, and has worked aggressively with the public in regards to the illegal possession and distribution of illicit drugs. The impact that illegal drugs can have on our community can be devastating to our young people and destroy families. This office will continue to combat illegal drugs, and work diligently to educate the community and our children about the harmful effects and consequences of illegal drugs.”

Anthony did not immediately return a telephone message Wednesday.

— Follow business reporter Charles A. Mason on Twitter at twitter.com/BGDNbusiness or visit bgdailynews.com.