CONCORD, N.H. — A New Hampshire sheriff has been arrested and charged with eight felonies as half an investigation into his misuse of county bank cards, the state legal professional normal introduced Thursday.
Strafford County Sheriff Mark Brave, who campaigned in 2020 to be the state’s solely Black sheriff, is charged with one rely of theft by deception for stealing about $19,000 in county funds by submitting reimbursement for private bills with false justifications; two counts of falsifying bodily proof; and 5 counts of perjury for mendacity in his testimony earlier than the Strafford County Grand Jury, Attorney General John Formella stated.
“The decision to charge an elected constitutional officer is not one that is made lightly and it’s not a place that we ever want to be. However no person is above the law and the evidence in this case required the actions that we are taking today,” the legal professional normal stated.
Brave insisted that he has executed nothing incorrect and can combat the fees of theft by deception, two counts of falsifying bodily proof and 5 counts of perjury.
“I’m not stepping down because I believe this is unfair. This is just an attack on me politically,” Brave advised The Associated Press. “The commissioners wanted me to step down from the get-go. I know I am not guilty of anything, and I refuse to give the commissioners what they wanted from the get-go.”
Formella stated Brave submitted quite a few false justifications for reimbursements “such as attending conferences and meetings that he did not attend, that did not exist and for organizations that did not exist,” he stated.
One perjury cost concerned a feminine worker who traveled to Florida with Brave and stated she stayed with household however later admitted to the grand jury that she stayed in Brave’s lodge room with him, which Brave denied to the grand jury. Brave can be accused of mendacity about journeys to Maryland, saying he was scheduled to satisfy with Congressman Chris Pappas, however that Pappas canceled and gave him a flag that flew over the U.S. capitol.
“Records from congressman’s office indicate that no such meeting was ever scheduled and no such gift was ever given,” Formella stated. “Rather based on investigation on this trip Sheriff Brave is alleged to have actually met a paramour who lived in the area.”
Brave is also accused of mendacity to the grand jury a few dinner cruise and lodge keep in Boston, saying he purchased the tickets upfront for him and a male deputy to attend a charity fundraiser when the investigation confirmed that Brave allegedly purchased the tickets on the identical day because the cruise for himself and one other paramour, Formella stated.
Brave posted on Facebook earlier within the day that he had turned himself in for images and fingerprinting. He was launched on a private recognizance bond. Brave is anticipated to be arraigned in a number of days.
“I will continue to serve the people of Strafford County to the best of my ability and will sit before a jury of my peers,” he wrote.
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