Criminal Investigation (CID)

The Carroll County Criminal Investigative Division (CID) consists of 1 Lieutenant, 1 Sergeant, 1 Corporal and 1 Investigator.  

CID Lieutenant Jami Yarbrough leads the division.  Lt. Yarbrough became a Certified Law Enforcement Officer in 1993 after serving in the U.S. Army as a Combat Medic, where he became a decorated combat veteran from service in Iraq. Lt. Yarbrough has numerous certifications, including recently earned Crime Scene Technical Certificate, Internal Affairs and Certified Death Investigator. Lt. Yarbrough has also previously worked as K9, SWAT Team and Narcotics, among other specialties. Lt. Yarbrough has been with Carroll County Sheriff's office since 2017. 

CID Sergeant Casey Helmlinger commands the Carroll County Sheriff's Department's Special Crimes against Children and Persons Unit. Sgt. Helmlinger collaborates with multiple other agencies to investigate crimes involving children and abuse of all types.  Sgt. Helmlinger is a Task Force Officer with both the FBI and U.S. Marshalls Service. Sgt. Helmlinger will soon be attending CSI & Forensic Investigations training and has completed other specialty training involving the abuse/sexual abuse of children. Sgt. Helmlinger works closely with Probation and Parole in ensuring compliance with the Registered Sex Offenders in Carroll County. 

CID Corporal Kenen L. Martinez handles a variety of different types of investigations with emphasis on missing persons, fugitives, death investigations, and property crimes. Cpl. Martinez is a decorated law enforcement officer, receiving the National Sheriff's Association's Medal of Valor and Purple Heart. Cpl. Martinez has certifications as a criminal investigator, arson investigator, forensic interviewer, death investigator, and field training officer as well as a Bachelor's degree in criminal justice from Southwest Baptist University..

CID Investigator Stephen Combs became a Certified Law Enforcement Officer for the State of Texas in 2011. Investigator Combs transferred to the Carroll County Sheriff's Office in November of 2023 where he worked patrol focusing heavily on narcotics as well as fraud. Throughout his time in law enforcement, Investigator Combs has received more than 2000 training hours to include, internal affairs, medicolegal death investigation, undercover narcotics, and many other certifications. As a patrol deputy, Investigator Combs took it upon himself to work his own cases and to follow up on them to completion, this attention to detail was a main factor in his promotion to Investigator. Investigator Combs' main focus now is fraud, white collar crimes and works closely with Homeland Security Investigations to help eliminate the fraud threat.

Although all CID works their own cases individually, Investigators work together with a "team approach" when handling more serious or complicated case situations.  This approach is helpful in solving cases that may require an Investigators specialty training in dealing with a situation where he/she has more knowledge in a particular aspect of the crime.  We have found that being able to rely on each other's training or experience to be especially effective in solving felony crimes. All Investigators have advanced training in interviews and interrogations.