Mark Maggs poses for a picture with his family, who live in Springfield. Maggs won the Bon Homme County election for sheriff on June 1. He received a letter of termination a minute after the polls closed. (Photo: Mark Maggs) 
 
 Mark Maggs' Tuesday was full of mixed emotions. 
 
 He was relieved to receive 73 percent of Bon Homme County's vote to become the next sheriff during Tuesday's primary elections. 
 
 He was disheartened to receive a letter of termination from his current sheriff just one minute after the polls closed, telling him to turn in all of the county's equipment by 5 p.m. the next day. 
 
 Maggs, a deputy with the Bon Homme County Sheriff's Office, ran against current sheriff Lenny Gramkow for the top position. The men were the only two running for office, and Maggs' victory will get him a four-year term as sheriff starting in January. 
 
 He received a message from the sheriff Tuesday afternoon to attend a mandatory meeting at 7 p.m. that night, Maggs said Thursday. 
 
 He showed up to the meeting and was handed the termination letter at 7:01 p.m. 
 
 Maggs posted the letter to Facebook on Tuesday night and the post has since been shared about 300 times and reached social media users across the country, something Maggs didn't expect to happen. The 31-year-old Pennsylvania native had posted it with the intent of providing updates to family and friends back home. 
 
 "Mark Maggs: This letter is to inform you that effective immediately you are terminated from the position of deputy sheriff for Bon Homme County. As of this moment you are no longer an employee of Bon Homme county. Please turn in all equipment belonging to Bon Homme County by 5 p.m. on June 6, 2018. Signed Lenny Gramkow, Bon Homme County Sheriff." 
 
 A timestamp showed the letter was delivered at 7:01 p.m., one minute after polls closed, but before election results rolled in around 9:45 p.m. 
 
 "Then when I got back to my election party and told my wife, she was very emotional," Maggs said. "It hit her hard. We knew that meant coming at the end of the month we'd be losing health insurance." 
 
 With four kids under the age of 7, that was worrying for the Maggs family. 
 
 South Dakota's right-to-work status allows for employers to fire employees without just cause, giving sheriffs the right to hire and fire as they please. 
 
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 Gramkow did not respond to requests for comment on the letter or reason for termination. 
 
 Maggs wasn't too surprised at the termination. He told Gramkow he intended to run the day he took out a petition, and termination had been brought up in that conversation, Maggs said. 
 
 Maggs wanted to run for sheriff because he felt he could improve service to the taxpayers, he said. He ran with the focus of getting more involved with local youth, getting tough on drugs and bettering relationships with local and state agencies. He comes from a family of law enforcement: two of his brothers are Pennsylvania State Troopers, his grandfather was a county sheriff and his father is a district judge. 
 
 Bon Homme County Sheriff Deputy Mark Maggs received a letter from Sheriff Lenny Gramkow Tuesday, June 5, the day of the primary elections. Maggs ran for sheriff against Gramkow. Maggs received this letter shortly after the polls closed. (Photo: Screenshot) 
 
 Maggs' post is filled with comments – about 300 – showing support, congratulating him on his win and expressing disappointment in the current leadership. 
 
 Commenters didn't stop with Maggs' post. Hundreds went over to the Bon Homme County Sheriff's Facebook page to leave a one-star rating and drop a review, most of which were directed toward Gramkow rather than the department as a whole, with some calling for Gramkow to step down. 
 
 A few people went as far as starting a petition to get Maggs rehired on the department. As of Thursday afternoon, almost 1,500 people had signed. 
 
 Maggs had declined media interviews until after speaking with the Bon Homme County Commission, which met Thursday, but his story went nationwide before he even spoke with any media. 
 
 The sheriff's office – made up of the sheriff, two deputies and five dispatcher-jailers – has been overflowing with phone calls. The county's 911 system has been tied up and the auditor's office is being inundated with emails. 
 
 Maggs is hoping by speaking out, people will know he and his family are going to be OK. 
 
 "We’re going to be fine," he said over the phone Thursday. "Stop calling the sheriff’s office; those guys still have a job to do." 
 
 Maggs is now in a tricky position, in the limbo of waiting to take over the office from which he was just fired. Maggs joined the department in 2013. He chatted with Bon Homme County commissioners Thursday, he said, who told him they will help him figure out a plan of action. The commission plans to have a special meeting next Thursday to discuss the matter further. 
 
 Messages seeking comment from the Bon Homme County Commission or State's Attorney were not immediately returned. 
 
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 Read or Share this story: https://www.argusleader.com/story/news/2018/06/07/sheriffs-deputy-fired-after-defeating-sheriff-primary-south-dakota-bon-homme-county-mark-maggs/680614002/ ||||| See more of Mark Maggs on Facebook ||||| Instead of a concession call, Deputy Sheriff Mark Maggs received a pink slip. 
 
 On Tuesday, the 31-year-old faced off against his boss, Sheriff Lenny Gramkow, to be the Republican candidate for the top law enforcement job in South Dakota’s Bon Homme County, home to about 7,000 people. 
 
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 That day, he was summoned by the sheriff to a meeting at 7 p.m., when the polls closed, though hours before results would come in. At 7:01 p.m., he was handed a letter, Maggs told the Argus Leader on Thursday. He was fired. 
 
 “Then when I got back to my election party and told my wife, she was very emotional,” said Maggs, who has four young children. “It hit her hard. We knew that meant coming at the end of the month we’d be losing health insurance.” 
 
 Soon after, he posted a photo to Facebook with a simple message: “Here’s the integrity of Lenny Gramkow.” 
 
 “THIS LETTER IS TO INFORM YOU THAT EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY YOU ARE TERMINATED FROM THE POSITION OF DEPUTY SHERIFF,” stated the notice, which was signed by Gramkow. 
 
 The letter, marked with a timestamp of “1901 HRS,” or 7:01 p.m., would turn a local battle into outrage around the country. 
 
 Here's the Integrity of Lenny Gramkow. Posted by Mark Maggs on Tuesday, June 5, 2018 
 
 Maggs won his contest with Gramkow, 878 to 331. With no other candidates in the race, Maggs, who has said one of his top priorities would be “fighting the methamphetamine epidemic,” will begin his four-year term as sheriff in January, according to the Associated Press. 
 
 The letter did not provide a reason for the termination, but Maggs said that when he told Gramkow of his intention to run, the sheriff had brought up the possibility that he would be fired. 
 
 Bon Homme County Commissioner Russell Jelsma told the newspaper Inforum Wednesday that Gramkow was within his powers to dismiss the deputy. 
 
 The Associated Press noted that employment in South Dakota is at-will, meaning that workers can be fired for any reason, with some exceptions, and that sheriffs in the state are authorized to hire and fire employees. 
 
 In 2017, a federal judge ruled that a homicide detective could be fired for opposing the sheriff’s reelection, The Washington Post’s Tom Jackman reported. 
 
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 Maggs did not immediately respond to a Facebook message seeking comment. According to the Argus Leader, he said county commissioners told him Thursday that they are planning a special meeting next Thursday to discuss the matter. 
 
 People have rallied to Maggs’s cause. As of Thursday night, more than 1,400 have signed an online petition exhorting Bon Homme County to reinstate Maggs, while the sheriff department’s Facebook page has received a slew of one-star reviews and criticism. The sheriff’s office and the county’s 911 system have been hit with calls, Maggs told the Argus Leader. 
 
 “Stop calling the sheriff’s office; those guys still have a job to do,” Maggs said. 
 
 Gramkow, who had won reelection in 2014, did not immediately respond to a phone message requesting comment. 
 
 The sheriff told the Daily Republic in March that he had hired Maggs but had no thoughts on his subordinate-turned-opponent. Instead he wondered why people would want to change sheriffs, “as long as he’s honest and does his job.” 
 
 “I wish it was hired just like any other job, I wish you wouldn’t have to worry about your job every four years,” Gramkow said. 
 
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 ‘At first glance this looks like a mistake’: Video shows Arizona officers beating unarmed man ||||| Bon Homme County, South Dakota Deputy Sheriff Mark Maggs ran to be elected Sheriff. Current Sheriff Lenny Gramkow terminated Maggs employment one minute after polls closed on 6-5-2018! Maggs won the election, which was announced hours after the polls closed! Maggs has a family and 4 young children who have now lost insurance benefits! Mark Maggs will not be able to take his elected position until January 1, 2019! Lets petition to get Deputy Maggs reinstated back into full time employment with the Bon Homme County Sheriffs office until he takes over his elected position!
– Defeating the sheriff in an election is apparently a fireable offense in the Bon Homme County Sheriff's Office. Mark Maggs, the South Dakota county's 31-year-old deputy sheriff, says he was fired on Tuesday after defeating his boss in the Republican primary for sheriff, the Argus Leader reports. Maggs and current sheriff Lenny Grankow were the only two people running for the role, meaning the victory ensures Maggs will become sheriff in January. Maggs, who received 73% of the vote, says the sheriff called him in for a meeting Tuesday and handed him a letter of termination a minute after polls closed. "As of this moment you are no longer an employee of Bon Homme County," the letter stated, ordering Maggs to turn in county-owned equipment by 5pm the next day. "When I got back to my election party and told my wife, she was very emotional," says Maggs, who has been with the department since 2013. "It hit her hard," he says. "We knew that meant coming at the end of the month we'd be losing health insurance." The couple have four children under 7. Maggs ran for sheriff on a platform of getting tough on drugs, getting more involved with local youth, and delivering better service. He says he was warned he could be fired when he announced his intention to run. Grankow has the power to fire Maggs at will, officials say, but the move has caused a backlash against the sheriff, the Washington Post reports. More than 1,600 people have signed a petition urging commissioners to reinstate Maggs. The former deputy says he's glad people are speaking out, but he would like supporters to stop calling the sheriff's office because "those guys still have a job to do."