Plea deal in the works for former Sheriff Lawrence Hodge

Former Whitley County Sheriff Lawrence Hodge, center, appears close to a plea deal on state corruption charges.

The Whitley County criminal case against former Sheriff Lawrence Hodge appears to be headed towards a plea deal.

When Special Judge David Tapp scheduled Hodge’s Oct. 29 trial date, he ordered that plea negotiations be concluded no later than 10 days prior to trial.

On Thursday, Gary Crabtree, one of Hodge’s attorneys, filed a motion with the Whitley Circuit Clerk’s Office to have Hodge re-arraigned on the charges. So far no re-arraignment date has been scheduled.

"I believe we have reached a plea agreement," Crabtree said. "It hasn’t been signed, but I think we have reached one."

Crabtree declined to comment on the details of the plea deal until it is signed.

Crabtree said that Hodge is looking forward to getting the matter behind him "like anybody else would."

A Special Whitley County Grand Jury indicted Hodge on Nov. 8, 2010, on 18 counts of violating the public trust and on three counts of tampering with physical evidence.

Hodge’s Whitley County indictment alleged that Hodge wrote himself checks totaling nearly $100,000 listed as drug buy money, but kept no records of what the funds were used for, and in the vast majority of cases presented no drug cases to the Whitley County Grand Jury.

The indictment also alleged that Hodge intentionally dealt with tax and fee money as his own and failed to make required disposition of it.

The indictment further alleged that Hodge converted seized guns for his own use, including three that he sold to a local attorney and two that he gave to his chief deputy.

In 2011, Hodge pled guilty in federal court to three felony offenses: conspiracy to effect commerce by extortion under color of official right, conspiracy to distribute Oxycodone and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

He was sentenced to 15.5 years in federal prison.

Hodge admitted that on at least three separate occasions between 2004 and 2007, he conspired with Williamsburg defense attorney Ron Reynolds to extort money from individuals that the Whitley County Sheriff’s Department charged with felony drug trafficking offenses. Reynolds pled guilty in connection with the case and served nearly two years in prison. He has also been disbarred and can no longer practice law.

Often in cases where someone is charged in both state and federal court, as Hodge is, a plea deal will be worked out that involves their state sentences being served concurrently, or at the same time, as their federal prison sentence.

This is because there is no parole in the federal court system, and defendants are eligible for parole for most non-violent crimes in Kentucky after serving between 15 and 20 percent of their recommended prison sentences.

For instance, if Hodge received a 20-year prison sentence in state court, he would likely be eligible for parole after serving about three years in prison.

Hodge is scheduled to be released from federal prison on Nov. 8, 2024.

Crabtree said that he doesn’t know what the judge will do in terms of running the state and federal sentences concurrently or consecutively, which is one after the other.

Hodge is currently being held in the Federal Transfer Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons website. The facility is an administrative facility housing male and female holdover offenders, and is located on the western edge of Will Rogers World Airport.

As part of his federal plea deal, Hodge was ordered to pay $64,897 in restitution to the Whitley County Fiscal Court once he is released from custody. He was also ordered to forfeit $50,000 to the federal government.

Hodge will likely have to make restitution as part of the plea agreement in Whitley County.

"As a matter of law, restitution will have to be addressed," Crabtree said.

Whether the amount of restitution in the federal court case would overlap with the Whitley County restitution is unclear.