BENTONVILLE -- A hearing in Benton County Sheriff Kelley Cradduck's criminal case has been 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.
A jury trial is slated to begin in September, however, Special Judge Randy Wright scheduled a hearing for 1 p.m. Friday. That's the day after Quorum Court members are expected to select an interim sheriff. A letter from Wright scheduling the hearing was filed Wednesday. The letter didn't specify the purpose of the hearing.
Drew Miller, Cradduck's attorney, declined to comment on the hearing.
Wright and Jason Barrett, the special prosecutor, couldn't be reached for comment.
The Quorum Court last week approved paying Cradduck $80,000 to resign. The figure is roughly equal to the salary and benefits he would have received if he had worked through December, which is the end of his term.
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.
The case originally was assigned to Benton County Circuit Judge Brad Karren, but he and the five other county circuit judges recused from the case.
Wright, who is a circuit judge with the 8th Judicial Circuit-North, was appointed as a special judge to preside over Cradduck's criminal case. The 8th Judicial Circuit-North consists of Hempstead and Nevada counties in southwest Arkansas.
Cradduck sought a third term as sheriff, but he was defeated in the Republican primary on March 1.
NW News on 04/23/2016