BENTON COUNTY -- Benton County has been receiving applications for interim sheriff, and the Quorum Court finalized Sheriff Kelley Cradduck's resignation last week.
The Quorum Court on April 12 approved spending $80,000 to pay Cradduck's salary and benefits through the end of the year. A special Quorum Court meeting on Friday accepted Cradduck's resignation and declared a vacancy.
Cradduck, in a letter from his attorney, Drew Miller, said he agreed to resign, effective immediately, on acceptance by the Quorum Court on the condition the county pays the balance of what he's owed for the year. The letter gave an estimate of just under $80,000.
Cradduck also agreed he would take no actions as sheriff during the time between the acceptance of his resignation and the appointment of his replacement, leaving Chief Deputy Richie Conner to manage the Sheriff's Office and exercise the authority of the sheriff, according to the letter.
Cradduck's term expires at the end of the year. He was defeated in the Republican primary election in March. Shawn Holloway, who until recently was a major at the Sheriff's Office, won the Republican Party's nomination and will face Glenn Latham, an independent candidate, for the sheriff's position in the November election.
The justices of the peace agreed to ask interested candidates to send letters or resumes to the Benton County Clerk's Office before noon on April 22. A special meeting of the Committee of the Whole is set for 6 p.m. April 25 to interview candidates. The goal is to name a replacement at the April 28 Quorum Court meeting.
The justices of the peace can consider any qualified county resident other than sitting justices of the peace and Holloway and Latham, the two men who are running for sheriff in the November general election. A person appointed to a county office can't run for that position in the next election, according to state law.
Tom Sissom contributed to this report.
Sheriff faces charges
Benton County Sheriff Kelley Cradduck faces a three-day jury trial in September on a felony charge he tampered with a public record and a misdemeanor tampering charge. Cradduck was arrested Jan. 19. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges. The felony charge accuses Cradduck of falsifying an employee payroll request form for Gabriel Cox to reflect a start date of Sept. 28 instead of his Oct. 7 hiring date. The change in hire dates would have resulted in Cox being paid for time he didn't work, according to court documents. The misdemeanor charge accuses Cradduck of knowing an Arkansas State Police investigation was underway and instructing his assistant, Diana Goodwin, to lie to investigators and say Cradduck never asked her to back-date the employee payroll request form.
Source: Staff report
General News on 04/20/2016