A judge has ruled that a former Guthrie County Sheriff will need to repay unemployment benefits he collected.

Sources say that following James “Marty” Arganbright’s defeat of a reelection bid in 2024 and after serving 16 years as the Guthrie County Sheriff he applied for and received unemployment benefits after his successor took office this past January. Sources say Guthrie County appealed the decision, and Administrative Law Judge Daniel Zeno ruled that while Arganbright may have fit the definition of a county employee for training and health benefit purposes, he did not meet the state’s definition of a county employee in regard to unemployment benefits, and that losing the employment resulting from the 2024 election also was not a qualification for those benefits. Arganbright was ordered to repay $2,408 to Iowa Workforce Development per Zeno’s ruling.