A former assistant Buncombe County manager has reached a plea deal with prosecutors who charged him with fraud and the receipt of bribes.
Court documents filed late Thursday show Jon Creighton, who also served as the county’s planning director, has reached a deal with prosecutors. He and fellow former assistant county manager Mandy Stone, and former county manager Wanda Greene were all indicted in August for allegedly accepting vacations and other gifts from a contractor that did business with the county. The contractor was unnamed in the indictment, but was later identified as Joseph Wiseman.
In a document known as a 'factual basis' (read it here) in the case, Creighton will agree that he received more than $40-thousand worth of gifts and 'things of value' that 'he was not lawfully entitled.' Prosecutors say Wiseman purchased the trips for the trio to places such as Key West, Phoenix, and Washington D.C. with his credit card. Creighton will agree that he sometimes used his own credit card to make the trip purchases so that he could receive hotel reward points, and that he was then reimbursed by the contractor. The factual basis also shows that Creighton admits he did not use personal leave time for the trips and instead claimed they were for 'official county business', and also submitted per diem and expense claims to the county for purchases made on the trips.
This particular indictment was the third time Greene was charged by federal authorities in the last calendar year. Her son Michael, also a former county employee, already pled guilty in a separate indictment for using county-owned credit cards for personal purchases, something his mother is also accused of doing.