BENTONVILLE -- Benton County Sheriff Kelley Cradduck continued to maintain his innocence during a press conference Friday, repeating that politics motivate an investigation that led to his arrest this week on a felony and a misdemeanor charge.
Cradduck read a short statement, but didn't take any questions outside the Sheriff's Office. He asked people to withhold judgement until the proceedings are over and all the information is known.
Arkansas State Police investigators arrested the sheriff Tuesday in connection with tampering with public documents, a Class D felony; and tampering, a Class A misdemeanor.
Cradduck said Thursday he'll hand over the daily operation of his office to Chief Deputy Richie Conner as he campaigns for re-election and deals with "recent events."
State Police on Thursday suspended Cradduck's certification to teach classes to people seeking a concealed handgun carry license. A copy of the certified letter sent to Cradduck was obtained by the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette under the state's Freedom of Information Act.
Bill Adams, Cradduck's campaign manager, spoke for several minutes after Cradduck finished Friday. Adams claimed the State Police, the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, a newspaper reporter and others were part of a political conspiracy against Cradduck.
Adams said there was a leak within the State Police. "If they are leaking information, they are trying to influence what's going on in Benton County's election."
Maj. Shawn Holloway with the Sheriff's Office was one of the conspirators named by Adams on Friday. Holloway is one of three men running against Cradduck in the Republican primary next month. Holloway declined to comment Friday.
"The Arkansas State Police will not become involved in answering or exchanging allegations associated with any political campaign," said Bill Sadler, a spokesman for the State Police, in response to Adams' statement. "There is an ongoing criminal investigation and Sheriff Cradduck may address any concerns he has with the court of jurisdiction where the criminal charges against him will be heard."
Rusty Turner, editor of the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette issued this statement:
We stand behind Tracy Neal and the excellent reporting he’s done. Tracy is a experienced reporter who does his job with high ethical standards. Neither Tracy nor any other reporter on our staff who has worked on this story is a part of Mr. Adams’ supposed vast conspiracy. Our reporting is based on documents, official sources and direct observations. Mr. Adams simply doesn’t like the facts.
This is a story about the sheriff and his conduct, and whether he’s the kind of sheriff Benton County voters want. Our newspaper is simply reporting that story as completely as we can, without regard to anyone’s political agenda.
Cradduck is accused in court documents of ordering his staff to backdate Gabriel Cox's hiring date to pay him for time he wasn't an employee of the jail. He also instructed his secretary in October to lie to State Police, who are investigating, according to the court documents.
Cradduck, who is in his second term as sheriff, has said he was attempting to help Cox, who was homeless at the time, by hiring him to work at the jail.
Cradduck also said Friday he was disappointed in the decision to suspend his license. he said he intends to work to get the laws that concern a license being suspended when a person is accused of committing a crime changed when his case is resolved.
"I appreciate all the support: social media, phone calls, emails," Cradduck said. "It's been tremendous. We knew this was coming. We knew this was coming before the election," Cradduck said. "It's nothing more than I said it was from the beginning -- that this is nothing more than about politics."