BENTONVILLE — A hearing in Benton County Sheriff Kelley Cradduck’s criminal case is set for next week.
Cradduck is charged with felony tampering with a public record and misdemeanor tampering. He was arrested Jan. 19. Cradduck has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Cradduck has submitted his resignation and it has been accepted by the county, but an interim sheriff has not yet been appointed. All of Cradduck's duties as sheriff are being performed by Chief Deputy Richie Conner.
Cradduck’s jury trial is slated to begin in September.
However, Special Judge Randy Wright scheduled a hearing for 1 p.m. Friday. That is the day after the Benton County Quorum Court is expected to select an interim sheriff. A letter from Wright scheduling the hearing was filed Wednesday. The letter did not specify the purpose of the hearing.
Drew Miller, Cradduck’s attorney, declined to comment on the purpose of the scheduled hearing.
Wright and Jason Barrett, the special prosecutor, could not be reached for comment.
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 the sheriff never asked her to back-date the employee payroll request form.