CHANDLER – The last of three former town officials in Tryon accused collectively of looting more than $90,000 from the small Lincoln County community entered a plea last week that concluded a criminal case filed 17 months ago.
Jessica Marie Turpin, 33, of Tryon, who was the town’s utility clerk and court clerk, entered a “no contest” plea last Thursday to a misdemeanor charge of embezzlement. She was accused of “fraudulently appropriating $3,120 for 280 hours of received hazard pay which was unapproved and unauthorized” by the town’s trustees.
Special Judge Emily Mueller found Turpin guilty as charged and deferred sentencing for one year.
However, the judge ordered Turpin to pay $3,120 in restitution to the town, required her to complete 24 hours of community service, and levied a $100 judicial assessment, a $100 victim compensation assessment, plus court costs.
Turpin initially was accused of felony embezzlement, but that charge was dismissed Sept. 1 in exchange for the sole misdemeanor count.
Jered DeWayne Prickett and his wife, Candace Marie Prickett, along with Turpin, were each charged in Lincoln County District Court in May 2022 with two felonies: embezzlement and conspiracy.
Jered Prickett, 48, of Tryon, previously was the town’s police chief, utility operator and animal control officer. Candace Prickett, 48, was the town’s clerk-treasurer and utility assistant.
In an agreement struck with the district attorney’s office, Jered Prickett pleaded guilty Sept. 5 to two embezzlement charges and one count of conspiracy, and Candace Prickett pleaded guilty that day to one count of embezzlement and one of conspiracy.
District Judge John Canavan gave Jered Prickett a five-year deferred prison sentence, a $100 fine plus court costs, and ordered him to pay $54,785.50 in restitution, payable at the rate of $650 per month starting Nov. 1 and continuing until the debt is satisfied. A court record indicates a $14,185.50 payment was made on the day of sentencing.
Canavan gave Candace Prickett a two-year deferred prison sentence, a $100 fine plus court costs, and ordered payment of $5,212.50 in restitution the day she was sentenced.
In a deferred sentence, the court adjudges the accused guilty of the crime but stays or “defers” imposition of sentence and places that person on probation until the terms of the sentence are successfully completed, at which time the individual’s criminal record is expunged.
Town Board requested audit
The state auditor’s office performed a special investigative probe of the town’s books after Tryon’s Board of Trustees requested “an audit of questionable financial activity” of the three former employees, State Auditor and Inspector Cindy Byrd related in her report submitted in February 2022.
Byrd and her staff identified “misappropriations” that totaled more than $95,000 and occurred between New Year’s Day 2013 and mid-May 2019. The criminal charges alleged that the money was siphoned off in the form of excess salary, excess holiday pay, vacation pay, and overtime pay for the three employees.
• Jered Prickett vowed he would repay the town for fuel he pumped into his personal vehicle but charged to the town on its credit card.
• Prickett also admitted he used the town’s tractor as collateral on a bank loan. “I have contacted my banker and had it removed from the loan,” he wrote in his emailed resignation letter. “It was done solely for the purpose of obtaining a lower interest rate.”
• Jered Prickett reported W-2 earnings of $106,000 in 2018, Byrd disclosed in her audit.
• The town’s bank account was overdrawn by approximately $8,000.
• The town was “several months behind on paying its bills.”
• Municipal purchase orders “were being pre-signed.”
• Credit card statements “were being paid but not shown to the Board of Trustees.”
Tryon has a municipal budget of approximately $750,000, Byrd wrote. The 2010 decennial census estimated Tryon’s population as just under 450; the latest population estimate is about 350.