CARROLLTON — By agreeing to pay back nearly $3,200 to the State Auditor’s Office, Carroll County Board of Supervisors President Lloyd “Honey” Ashmore has avoided a second trial on a charge of directing county employees to build a bridge on his property in 2006.
Attorney Kevin Horan said his client denies doing anything illegal but agreed to pay the money for the bridge.
“We contend that the bridge was built on a dedicated county road that had to be maintained by the county,” he said.
“The case should have been resolved before it went to the grand jury. The state had no proof of his doing anything illegal,” Horan said. “We disputed whether Mr. Ashmore owed the money, but in order to get the case resolved, he agreed to pay it.”
Ashmore was indicted on two charges of embezzlement in May of 2008 and was tried on one charge in June 2010. In that trial, he was accused of having county employees build a bridge worth $1,900 on property of Ed Meeks in Teoc in 2003. It ended in Ashmore’s favor, when Judge Billy Bridges agreed with Horan’s request to drop the charges due to a lack of evidence put forth by the prosecution.
In December, Bridges also agreed to dismiss the charge of having a bridge built on what the state claimed was Ashmore’s own property on the condition that Ashmore pay back the value of the bridge, which was determined to be $3,196.59.
Ashmore, 67, has served as Beat 2 supervisor for more than 27 years. Had the state gotten a conviction on the count, he could have faced up to 20 years in prison and a $5,000 fine.
The state did not ask for restitution on the charge dismissed in June 2010. The state’s attorney on the case, Assistant Attorney General Stanley Alexander, could not be reached this morning to comment on the case.
Ashmore could not be reached for comment.
