Former Kentucky sheriff accused of misappropriating money, ammo pleads no contest
A former Kentucky sheriff accused of skimming cash from his office and taking property bought with taxpayer money has pleaded no contest to the charges.
Former Greenup County Sheriff Keith Cooper entered the plea on one charge of mail fraud and one charge of misappropriation of funds on Friday in federal court in Lexington.
A no-contest plea means a defendant does not admit guilt but acknowledges there is sufficient evidence for a conviction.
The effect is the same as if the person pleaded guilty.
U.S. District Judge Gregory F. Van Tatenhove will decide whether to accept the plea.
Cooper’s attorney, Edward L. Metzger III, said Cooper, 70, strongly maintains he did not commit any crimes, but would have a hard time refuting the allegations because he did not keep adequate records.
Cooper would have to pay $90,275 as a result of his plea, Metzger said.
Van Tatenhove will decide whether Cooper has to serve jail time. The sentencing hearing is scheduled in October.
Cooper was sheriff of Greenup County for more than 20 years, from 1996 until the end of 2018, and had served two decades as a Kentucky State Police officer before that, according to court records.
The mail-fraud charge against him involved an account in his office that held money seized in criminal investigations, such as cash taken from a drug dealer.
Investigating agencies get to keep some of that money and are supposed to use it for law-enforcement purposes.
The indictment said between early 2013 and March 2017, Cooper took cash from that account, and used it for “personal and otherwise unauthorized uses as he deemed fit.”
Cooper allegedly tried to cover up the skimming by making up details about illegal drug activity he purportedly investigated and having a deputy prepare case reports with the fabricated information.
He was charged with mail fraud because he allegedly mailed a report to the Kentucky Attorney General’s Office in 2017 that included details he made up.
The indictment also charged that on multiple occasions, Cooper had deputies buy ammunition that did not match the weapons issued to them by the office.
As a result, the office accumulated thousands of dollars worth of bullets without an official use for them, the indictment said.
Cooper allegedly had deputies take ammunition from the office and first put it at his house and later at a storage unit.
Sometime in 2018, another local official told Cooper to return any ammunition he had that had been purchased with taxpayer money.
Cooper had deputies return a “modest amount” of ammunition and kept the rest in his storage unit, the indictment charged.
Cooper kept ammunition that his office had spent $30,000 in public money to buy, according to the indictment.
The charges said he also used his official vehicle for personal trips, including to Colorado, Alabama and Tennessee, and used his official credit card to pay for the gas.
Metzger said Cooper denies illegally taking cash from the fund that held seized money.
Cooper kept the money in an envelope in a locked drawer in his desk. He did that so he could get cash quickly if he needed it for an undercover case, Metzger said.
Cooper often did undercover work by himself and used money from the envelope in those cases, Metzger said.
However, Cooper did a poor job of keeping records so has no way to show he spent the money for legitimate purposes, Metzger said.
As for the ammunition, Cooper paid for it by putting money into the envelope of cash he used for investigations, then used it on other cases, but again does not have documentation to prove that, Metzger said.
The allegation that Cooper made up investigations he didn’t really conduct is false, but he did investigations alone so only he knows the details, Metzger said.
“Sheriff Cooper did not do what he is accused of doing but the evidence sure makes it look like he did,” Metzger said. “Does it look bad? Sure. Did he do it? No.”
This story was originally published July 10, 2023 at 10:50 AM.
