Krystal Dawn Ledford
Staff
Reports
A former captain of the Clay County Detention Center has pled guilty to two counts of felony embezzlement for crimes that occurred during her employment there.
Krystal Dawn Ledford, 39, of Hayesville, plead guilty Monday, Dec. 1 in Superior Court.
She was sentenced to 6 to 17 months in the N.C. Department of Adult Corrections with the second count to run consecutive to the first one. The sentences were suspended. Ledford will spend no time in prison.
According to Sheriff Mark Buchanan, Ledford was placed on supervised probation for 60 months under regular terms and conditions.
Additional conditions of her probation require that she pay restitution in the amount of $11,295.02 to the Clay County government; that she does not serve as a trustee on any account of another person; and that she surrenders all N.C. law enforcement related credentials.
The guilty pleas stem from September 2021 when an independent audit was conducted of the inmate commisary funds at the detention center. At the time, Ledford served as captain over the jail.
As a result of the audit, then Clay County Sheriff Bobby Deese requested an independent criminal investigation to be conducted by the N.C. State Bureau of Investigation.
Ledford was arrested on May 31, 2024 on four counts of felony embezzlement by public official/trustee and four counts of felony access of government computer to defraud.
Attorney Jordan Ford, N.C. Chief Financial Crimes Resource Prosecutor, was assigned the prosecution of Ledford and negotiated the two felony pleas on Dec. 1.
During his summary of a factual basis for these pleas, Ford told Superior Court Judge Tessa Sellers that these crimes occurred under the prior Clay County Sheriff’s administration, that safeguards have since been put in place to prevent future crimes like this from happening and officials with the sheriff’s office cooperated fully with the investigation since the discovery of the embezzled funds.