Probation officer gives office BJ to boot-camp teen
Creepy, Corrupt Sheriff Daniel Presgraves Pleads Guilty to Racketeering
Monday, August 31, 2009 at 2:05 pm
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| Sheriff Danny Presgraves, sexual harasser extraordinaire |
It began with a tip that Presgraves was taking kickbacks from a cockfighting ring. Under the agreement, the sheriff wouldn't arrest the ringleaders and would tip them off if another law enforcement agency was planning a raid.
The sheriff was also accused of doing the same thing for an unnamed company facing legal problems. According to the feds, Presgraves deposited more than $100,000 in cash in his checking account from 2001 until 2004.
Prosecutors further accused the sheriff of ripping off his own department. They say he withheld depositing a $39,000 payment from the U.S. Customs Service, and $47,000 from the company operating pay phones in the Page County Jail. And this was just the beginning of his crimes...
The original indictment contends he exploited inmate labor for his own use. Presgrave and his wife reportedly drove inmates to work at his and other family members' properties. At one point, he even talked the Virginia Department of Corrections out of transferring cons to state custody to presumably keep them working for him.
Finally, the sheriff was also accused of being a monster pervert. No less than a dozen of his female employees accused him of sexual abuse and harassment. Investigators say Presgraves urged them to stonewall detectives probing the matter. At one point he even used the unoriginal slogan of "What happens at the Page County Sheriff''s Department stays at the Page County Sheriff's Department" to push for an employee's silence.
Though the racketeering charge carries a maximum of 20 years, it's believed the sheriff will only serve a fraction of that time.
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