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| Joey Masters |
A judge reluctantly let a former tax official plead guilty
to a misdemeanor charge and avoid jail time Monday despite lingering questions
over millions of dollars in county property tax errors.
Circuit Judge Howard Hawk approved a deal in
which former Marshall County Revenue Commissioner Joey Masters pleaded guilty
to a state ethics charge that accused him of taking an unspecified amount of
money from an office account.
A state
audit found $17 million errors in tax assessments under Masters and a separate
taxpayer lawsuit accuses him of reducing assessments for relatives and friends
by as much as $20 million. However, Assistant Attorney General Bill Lisenby Jr.
outlined only $740 in office funds that Masters admitted taking from a cash
drawer and then repaying in 2012.
Under
questioning from Hawk, Lisenby said prosecutors couldn't prove any crime
involving the broader allegations of bogus or mistaken tax assessments totaling
in the millions.
Lisenby said problems
uncovered in state audits do not always involve crimes, which have a higher
standard of proof.
The judge had
previously refused to accept Masters' guilty plea, saying he wanted to know
exactly what the charges involved.
Masters,
must pay a fine and
assessment of $1,100 plus court costs; perform 200 hours of community service;
and spend two years on probation. He declined comment after the hearing.
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