5-18-10 —   Former Wayne County Clerk Melissa Turpin was formally sentenced in

Franklin Circuit Court on Friday, May 7, after she entered an Alford plea of

guilty to two counts of willfully filing or making a false tax return to the

Kentucky Revenue Cabinet.

    Turpin received a five year sentence on each count to run concurrent.

The jail time was probated. Turpin was also ordered to pay $200 in monthly

restitution.

    The charges were for the tax years of 2007 and 2008, when audit reports

of the Wayne County Clerk's Office indicated that approximately $139,986 was

missing from the fee account.

    Turpin is also currently on probation for two counts of abuse of a

public trust over $10,000 and two counts of theft by unlawful taking over

$300 in Wayne Circuit Court. She entered guilty pleas on those charges last

fall and has completed a six month sentence‹two months in the Wayne County

Detention Center and four months home incarceration. The remainder of the

10-year sentence she recieved on the charges was probated.