FBI records show a former Cocke County sheriff is accused of being paid thousands of dollars in exchange for protecting illegal gambling operations while in office. An FBI affidavit filed in May 2004 says D.C. Ramsey sent deputies to cockfighting pits to keep out suspicious vehicles and had those who ran the operations warned they were being investigated by authorities. The affidavit, which was unsealed earlier this month in federal court, sought permission to conduct a secret search of the Del Rio Cockfighting Pit as part of the “Rose Thorn” corruption probe. Authorities have been cracking down on gambling, illegal liquor sales and prostitution in Cocke County since 2001. More than 180 people have been charged, including eight local lawmen, and two cockfighting arenas were shuttered. Ramsey, who resigned in January 2006 amid the arrests, hasn’t been charged.