On August 16, 2021, former Fentress County Deputy Finance Director Kellye Rhea Crabtree was sentenced by Fentress County Criminal Court Judge E. Shayne Sexton to serve twelve (12) years in Tennessee Department of Corrections custody. This sentence follows Ms. Crabtree’s previous guilty pleas to theft of property valued at more than $60,000.00 from the government of Fentress County, theft of property valued at more than $1,000.00 from the Kirby Johnson Memorial Ball Park and official misconduct.

The theft of property valued at more than $60,000.00 and official misconduct convictions stemmed from the defendant’s unauthorized use of a Walmart Community Credit Card to make unauthorized transactions totaling $237,615.99. These unauthorized transactions occurred while the defendant was an employee of the Fentress County Finance Department.

The theft of property valued at more than $1,000.00 stemmed from Ms. Crabtree’s theft of property from the Kirby Johnson Memorial Ballpark. The defendant accomplished this theft by issuing unauthorized checks in her capacity as Treasurer of said Ballpark.

This case was investigated by Fentress County Government, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and Tennessee Comptroller of Treasury. Ms. Crabtree was prosecuted by the Office of the Eighth District Attorney General Jared Effler.