Ray Sumrow was a self-made success, a man who, despite holding elected office, didn't mind getting his hands dirty and enjoyed shooting the breeze with friends at the old Dairy Queen.

He worked his way through law school and won election as Rockwall County district attorney six times.

Ray Sumrow

He earned a reputation for prosecuting public officials, handling at least half a dozen cases. The State Bar named him Prosecutor of the Year in 2001 – the same year he beat kidney cancer.

So how did the county's chief law enforcer – a man with a reputation for integrity and friends among Rockwall's elite – fall so far?

Mr. Sumrow, who sent hundreds to prison during his 22 years in office, now resides there himself, serving 15 years for stealing public money.

He resigned last month, and the State Bar has suspended his law license and probably will disbar him. At 58, he faces financial ruin and could lose his home, which he lovingly renovated with his own hands, to foreclosure.

A judge plans to decide Friday whether to declare him indigent and order the state to pay expenses related to his appeals. Mr. Sumrow has declined to grant interviews.

During his two criminal trials, prosecutors painted him as arrogant, greedy and corrupt. But supporters adamantly reject those claims and attribute his convictions to political enemies and sloppy bookkeeping.

Family and friends describe Mr. Sumrow as hardworking, respected and selfless, though careless with his finances.

"The people who tried and convicted my father don't know him," daughter Heather Sumrow Joplin said. "He would have done anything for the good of this county, and I truly believe that he gave up his life for Rockwall County."

Mr. Sumrow, the son of a dairy farmer, grew up in the tiny Hunt County town of Merit. He and his brothers were expected to work, and he put himself through college.

"Dad came from nothing," daughter Holly Sumrow said.

He started his law enforcement career as a jailer in about 1970 and then worked as a Rockwall police officer and district attorney's investigator. Motivated by a case that, as he once told a reporter, "we shouldn't have lost," Mr. Sumrow enrolled in law school in 1979.

He commuted to South Texas College of Law in Houston. The first two years, he lived in a trailer in Houston and returned to his wife and young daughter in Rockwall on weekends. When his wife got pregnant, he flew back and forth on Southwest Airlines daily. All the while, he kept a construction business going to support his family.

"He had to work two and three times harder than anyone else," Ms. Joplin said. "He would have made a lot more money and probably had a much better life if he had gone into private practice. But that just isn't my dad."

After graduating from law school, Mr. Sumrow spent a few years in private practice and as a municipal court prosecutor. When the district attorney ran for another office in 1986, Mr. Sumrow sought and won the seat.

"He gave his entire life to that job," said Cathy Sumrow, his first wife and mother of his two oldest daughters.

The first high-profile case of Mr. Sumrow's career came during his first term. He prosecuted two-term Sheriff John McWhorter for organized crime related to thefts and drug dealing in his office.

The case deeply divided Rockwall. Mr. Sumrow not only survived the controversy, he thrived, blossoming into a darling of North Texas' law enforcement community.

Judges appointed him to handle criminal investigations of a Dallas County commissioner and the Tarrant County sheriff, among others. He earned appointments to boards and commissions, including the District and County Attorneys Association.

Holly Sumrow said her father never allowed his children to take advantage of his position. When at age 16 she complained about being stopped for speeding, he reminded her that the district attorney's daughter was not entitled to a "get out of jail free card."

"Dad always had a saying," Ms. Sumrow said. "No one's more important than anyone else. Some just have more responsibility."

At the end of his tenure, Mr. Sumrow was earning more than $100,000 a year. But friends say he never learned to manage his finances. He made impulsive purchases, such as a tractor to mow his 9.5-acre property, without knowing if he could afford it.

"He's a very bad businessman; he always was," said former Police Chief Bill Watkins, who met Mr. Sumrow in 1970.

During her marriage, Cathy Sumrow said, she managed her husband's personal and business finances. He wasn't allowed to touch the checkbook.

"She probably kept him out of income tax trouble," Mr. Watkins said.

Mr. Sumrow's over-dedication to work led the couple to divorce in 1991, Cathy Sumrow said, but they remain friends. He married and divorced again and is now engaged to longtime girlfriend Jan Jones.

The catalyst of Mr. Sumrow's demise was his prosecution of longtime county Treasurer Shereé Jones, who resigned and pleaded guilty to misusing $2,100 from the county. Mr. Sumrow called her crime "a blight on all elected officials."

Then she told investigators that he had done the same thing on a much larger scale.

Mr. Sumrow and his supporters characterize this as an act of revenge and the perfect sabotage opportunity for his political enemies, including Sheriff Harold Eavenson.

"He made the wrong people mad," Cathy Sumrow said. "They made an innocent mistake out to be the act of a dirty politician, and that is not the Ray I know."

Sheriff Eavenson denies personal motivations. He asked the Texas Rangers and FBI to lead the inquiry, which prosecutors say confirmed Ms. Jones' allegations that Mr. Sumrow had taken $68,000 in public money and uncovered additional thefts as well as forgery and records tampering.

Mr. Sumrow maintained his innocence and refused to leave office while waiting nearly a year for his first trial. "I didn't think I had done anything wrong," he testified.

Prosecutors say Mr. Sumrow's financial state led him to steal. He routinely overdrew his checking account, but his balance stayed positive while state money was in the account. Without that money, he would have spent $35,000 more than he brought in.

Mr. Sumrow has said that the money entered his account by mistake and that he preferred paying exorbitant insufficient funds fees to balancing his checkbook. Family and friends say unopened bank statements piled up.

Mr. Sumrow made no investments, kept no savings account and has no life insurance. During a recent court hearing, he was unsure whether he has a retirement account and said he owed the IRS $31,000.

But muddled finances don't amount to a motive to steal, said longtime friend Timothy Bray.

"Ray has 50 friends who would loan him that without question," he said. "I've loaned him money before, and he has always faithfully paid it back."

When Senior Judge John Nelms sentenced Mr. Sumrow in his first trial, he expressed belief in his guilt. But he found a middle ground between the assertions of innocence and the accusations of greed.

"Although you did wrong, I think you were just swept up perhaps in personal problems. But that in no way excuses it," Judge Nelms said. "I do not think that you are a bad person. But I have learned in 45 years in criminal justice that sometimes good people do bad things."

As he was led from the courtroom after his second trial, Mr. Sumrow expressed confidence in overturning the convictions on appeal. He worries about his family and friends, Holly Sumrow said, but remains upbeat.

Mr. Watkins could bear only one visit to see his friend in jail.

"I'll go to my grave knowing he didn't do anything intentionally wrong," he said.

BACKGROUND

•Born in 1950 in Greenville, Texas; grew up in nearby Merit.

•Earned a criminal justice degree from what is now Texas A&M-Commerce and a law degree from South Texas College of Law in Houston.

•1970-79: Hunt County deputy sheriff, Rockwall police officer, investigator for Rockwall County district attorney's office; 1982: ran unsuccessfully for Rockwall mayor; 1982-86: Rockwall city prosecutor and private law practice; elected Rockwall County district attorney as a Republican, 1986, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002 and 2006; named Prosecutor of the Year in 2001 for mentoring young lawyers.

CORRUPTION CASES

•Prosecuted Rockwall County Sheriff John McWhorter, who received probation after being convicted in 1990 of organized crime. The sheriff had been accused of conspiring to sell marijuana seized by his department.

•Prosecuted former Tarrant County Sheriff Don Carpenter, who received probation in the early 1990s in a plea bargain on a misdemeanor official misconduct charge. He had been accused of illegally taking guns from the property room.

•Prosecuted former Rockwall County Treasurer Shereé Jones, who received probation in 2006 after pleading guilty to abuse of official capacity. She admitted taking $2,100 to pay a bill and later replacing the money.

CONVICTED

•In March, theft by a public servant, for stealing $9,652 in computer equipment and money from an office account. Sentenced to four years in prison.

•In June, theft by a public servant, for having $68,000 in state money deposited into his personal checking account. He used the money for about a year before paying the last of it back. Recently began a 15-year term.