Yep.
Posted on 09/16/2003 5:56:54 PM PDT by Mulder
Davidson County Sheriff Gerald Hege was arrested by agents with the State Bureau of Investigation Monday following 15 indictments on felony charges including embezzlement, obtaining property by false pretenses and obstruction of justice.
Much of the alleged misconduct focuses on Hege´s use of vice/narcotics funds to pay for re-election celebrations and other personal uses. In all, he is charged with five counts of embezzlement, five counts of obtaining property by false pretenses, two counts of obstruction of justice, one count of aiding and abetting obtaining property by false pretenses, one count of endeavoring to intercept oral communication and one count of aiding and abetting endeavor to intercept oral communication.
Superior Court Judge W. Erwin Spainhour set Hege´s bond at $15,000 secured, which Hege posted immediately. He was released under the condition that he not contact officers who had provided SBI agents with statements critical of him nor re-enter the sheriff´s office.
Hege declined to comment on the charges. One of his lawyers, William Hill of Greensboro, said his client would not speak publicly on the charges and is innocent until proven guilty.
The indictments against Hege were issued by a county grand jury Sept. 2 and sealed by Superior Court Judge Mark Klass. Spainhour ordered the indictments unsealed Monday morning.
According to the indictments, Hege on numerous occasions embezzled money from county vice/narcotics "buy" funds, which are to be used in drug investigations. The incidents happened over five years between 1998 and 2003 and totaled $6,200 in missing money, the indictments charge.
Hege is charged with using the money to pay personal travel expenses for an employee and for other non-permitted purposes.
According to the indictments, Hege also used $1,100 of the $6,200 missing vice/narcotics funds to pay for re-election celebrations in 1998 and 2002. Hege allegedly spent $500 in buy funds on a 1998 election celebration dinner and $600 in buy funds on a 2002 election celebration dinner.
Hege also faces two counts of obstruction of justice - one this past June 26 for allegedly covering up his embezzlement and misapplication of vice/narcotics buy funds, and one between May 27, 1998, and Dec. 1, 1998, for refusing to investigate the disappearance of funds seized by the sheriff´s office during a criminal investigation and instructing subordinates not to report the loss or possible theft of the funds to the State Bureau of Investigation or the district attorney´s office.
No total for the funds is given in either of those cases.
Hege further faces one count of aiding and abetting obtaining property by false pretenses by allegedly using Ronald Carroll Richardson, the former county building maintenance director, to perform repairs on privately owned gas logs at Hege´s residence and allowing Richardson to be paid for the time by the county as if the work were part of his regular duties. It was revealed Monday that Richardson has been indicted on 19 counts by the grand jury.
In addition, Hege faces one count of endeavoring to intercept an oral communication and a second count of aiding and abetting Richardson in endeavoring to intercept an oral communication between July 1, 2000, and Oct. 8, 2002. The indictments do not say where the attempted interception took place.
Richardson was placed on investigative leave by the county commissioners last October and resigned Jan. 31 during a continuing probe by the SBI. District Attorney Garry Frank has said the Richardson investigation helped lead in April to a separate SBI investigation of Hege.
That investigation is ongoing, Frank said Monday afternoon.
Is this the guy who painted the jail cells pink?
Yep.
It does sound like someone had it out for him.
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