Prosecutor seeks outside look in case against sheriff

BENTONVILLE — Benton County Prosecuting Attorney Nathan Smith has asked for a special prosecutor to oversee an investigation into criminal allegations against Sheriff Kelley Cradduck.

Smith said Friday that he was contacted Oct. 6 about possible wrongdoing by Cradduck.

“I requested a formal investigation to be completed by the Arkansas State Police. The investigation is in the final stages or complete. I have also requested [that] a special prosecutor from outside my office be appointed to decide whether any charges will be filed. I want to stress that, like anyone else, the sheriff is innocent until proven guilty,” Smith said.

Rules of professional conduct prevent him from discussing any details of the allegations or the investigation, Smith said.

Cradduck did not respond Friday to voice-mail messages and text messages sent to his county cellphone.

Sheriff’s office employees have filed two grievances with Benton County.

On Friday, a grievance was filed by Capt. Jeremy Guyll, who oversaw the county jail, alleging wrongful demotion and seeking protection under the Arkansas Whistle-Blower Act.

Guyll said in his filing that he was wrongfully demoted because he reported to state police that Cradduck had ordered a former lieutenant at the jail to falsify the time and pay records of Gabriel Cox, a newly hired employee at the jail. County employment records, obtained under the state’s Freedom of Information Act, show that Cox had listed as his place of residence the same Rogers address listed for Cradduck.

On Thursday, a grievance was filed by Robin Holt, the former lieutenant at the jail. The grievance says Cradduck wrongfully demoted her after she refused to falsify the payroll records and reported Cradduck’s order to Guyll, a superior.

Holt said in her complaint that she was twice interviewed by a state police investigator.

When Cradduck learned of the investigation and her possible involvement, she was demoted to deputy and her pay was reduced, she said.

Holt’s filing says Cradduck told numerous employees that employees in the jail, including Holt and Megan Rutledge, were involved in the investigation. The filing says Cradduck discussed ways to terminate or demote Holt and Rutledge “without it appearing as though such terminations were retaliatory.”

The filing also says that Cradduck ordered investigations into a 10-second video of Holt in which she was singing a popular song and made a reference to Benton County. In addition, the filing says Cradduck ordered an investigation into whether Holt has used her county-issued vehicle on a vacation during the summer.

Holt seeks to have her rank and pay reinstated. No date has been set for a hearing on either grievance.

After being read sections of Holt’s filing Thursday, Cradduck denied any involvement with Cox’s records and having investigated Holt in connection with the state police inquiry.

“I launched no investigation into anything,” he said Thursday. “I never spoke to her about any employee’s records. I don’t sign time sheets. I don’t get involved in that.”

Smith, the prosecuting attorney, said he had seen the grievance filed by Holt but could not comment on it.

There will not be a set time for the special prosecutor to complete his work, other than observing guidelines of the statute of limitations, Smith said. A judge will appoint the special prosecutor.

Holt and Guyll said in their filings that Cradduck ordered employment records to be backdated to the week before Cox was hired so Cox would be paid for time he was not employed. Holt reported Cradduck’s order to Guyll, telling him she was refusing to comply with the order, and Guyll supported her in that decision and notified the state police, the filings say.

Guyll is on medical leave, his filing states, and has received no notice of his demotion. However, the grievance says Cradduck sent an email to employees of the sheriff’s office Tuesday announcing that Jeff Robbins had been promoted to jail captain.

“Sheriff Cradduck has not notified Captain Guyll that he is being transferred, demoted or terminated,” the filing states. “Captain Guyll has been informed by way of rumor that he will be demoted by Sheriff Cradduck. Based on the October 27, 2015, email it is clear that Captain Guyll will not resume his duties as captain over the jail upon return from his medical leave.”

Guyll’s grievance says Cradduck was interviewed by state police at his home Oct. 13. That day, the grievance says, Cradduck called Guyll, telling him he had just been interviewed. Cradduck was “extremely mad and asked what Captain Guyll knew about the investigation,” the filing says.

Cradduck sent Guyll and other employees a text message after his interview “stating he was going to put the employees ‘on the box,’ a term referring to polygraph testing, so that he can determine the identity of the whistleblowers,” according to the filing.

The grievance says attorneys representing Guyll and Holt “and the other whistleblowers” met with George Spence, Benton County attorney, “advising him of this threat.”

“After our meeting with the Benton County attorney, Sheriff Cradduck sent another text recanting his threat and stating that when he threatened to put the employees ‘on the box’ he was only ‘joking,’” the grievance states.

“They [were] in no way delivered as a joke. Captain Guyll understood the text to be a threat and believed that he would be subjected to polygraph testing. Only after our meeting with the County Attorney did the threat become a ‘joke.’”

Spence said he had not yet reviewed Guyll’s grievance and would not comment on it.

Guyll’s grievance also says Cradduck called Guyll into his office Oct. 14 and ordered Guyll to tell him everything about the investigation. Cradduck told Guyll that “if the sheriff lost his job over the investigation then Captain Guyll would also lose his job,” according to the filing.

Guyll’s grievance also refers to the 10-second video of Holt that Cradduck said Thursday is the basis for her demotion.

Holt’s attorney has confirmed that the person in the recording is Holt.

Cradduck said Thursday that Holt made light of rape victims in the video.

“That’s not the kind of person we want in a position of authority at the jail,” Cradduck said. “She’s in uniform and at the jail. I can’t overlook that. There was some discussion about whether to fire her or demote her, and I decided to let her keep her job.”

Guyll’s grievance says he recorded the video and sent it to two employees of the sheriff’s office and to Cradduck’s wife, Sabrina Cradduck. The grievance says employees routinely communicated with Kelley Cradduck through his wife.

“Captain Guyll received a text message response from Sabrina Cradduck’s telephone number indicating that she found the video to be funny,” the grievance says. The video was in no way inappropriate or derogatory, it says.

Guyll’s grievance says he never released the video to anyone outside the sheriff’s office.

“The only person responsible for releasing the video outside the Sheriff’s Office is the sheriff,” the grievance says.

Guyll seeks to have his position reinstated pending the outcome of his grievance hearing.

Barb Ludwig, Benton County’s human resources administrator, said Thursday that county policy is to schedule grievance hearings within 14 days of a filing.