Ex-DCSO Capt. Scott Beard pleads guilty to theft, money laundering

Former Deschutes County sheriff’s captain Scott Beard pleaded guilty Monday in a Eugene federal courtroom to two counts each of theft and money laundering, admitting he stole more than $200,000 while the head of the agency’s investigations division.

U.S. District Judge Michael McShane set sentencing of Beard, for Aug. 23. Prior to the sentencing, U.S. Probation Services will prepare a pre-sentence report for the court, listing the details of the crime, Beard’s background, and the impact of the crimes.

Sheriff Shane Nelson said he and other sheriff’s office staff are expected to make statements to the court at the sentencing.

The statutory maximum sentence for these crimes is 60 years in prison and a maximum fine of $1.2 million.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office will be requesting Beard be sentenced up to five years in prison and will also request that the court order Beard to pay full restitution to the county and its citizens.

The government alleged Beard laundered some of the cash to pay expenses on behalf of his co-defendant, Krista Jean Mudrick, a former sheriff’s office employee charged with making false statements to the FBI and IRS about Beard’s expenditures of the ill-gotten gains. Her case is pending, prosecutors said.

Beard’s crimes came to the attention of sheriffs command and business staff during the transition audit ordered when Sheriff Shane Nelson took office last July, the department said in a news release.

Last September, an internal audit found discrepancies in accounting records in the audit of County funds intended as use in drug investigations. Beard was placed on administrative leave after the discovery of the discrepancies.

Nelson contacted the FBI and U.S. Attorney’s Office for assistance in investigating after the audit discovered the discrepancies. The agency assisted FBI investigators in compiling and analyzing the department’s business records and determined that Beard committed a series of thefts spanning a period from about January 2014 to September of last year.

The investigation revealed that Beard forged signatures and fraudulently altered documents to make it appear that funds and evidence were properly accounted for and lied to the sheriff’s office and other law enforcement personnel to conceal his crimes.

Beard stole money designated for use in drug investigations and stole money and property seized in drug investigations. The total of the thefts is approximately $205,747, the agency said.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office indicted Beard in February 2016 on two counts of theft involving a program receiving federal funds, two counts of money laundering, one count of passport fraud, and two forfeiture allegations. Under the plea agreement, a related count, passport fraud, was dismissed.

“The investigation indicates that no other Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office staff acted with Beard in committing these crimes,” Monday’s news release stated..

“Thank you to the FBI and U.S. Attorney’s Office for their hard work and effort in investigating and prosecuting this case,” Nelson said, “and also my thanks to my Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office co-workers whose diligence in the audit brought these crimes to the attention of the command staff at the sheriff’s office.”

The sheriff added, “I am assured that this change of plea is a step towards holding him accountable for violating the public’s trust. I want to thank the citizens of Deschutes County for their ongoing support.”

Read the Scott Beard federal indictment here (Adobe Acrobat PDF)

This case was investigated by the FBI, IRS-Criminal Investigation, and the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Cardani is prosecuting the case.