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Jewish World Review Feb. 1, 2001 / 9 Shevat, 5761

Lawrence Buser

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Ex-sheriff gets 37-month sentence for shooting mistletoe

http://www.jewishworldreview.com -- Former Dyer County, Tenn., Sheriff Tommy Cribbs has been sentenced to 37 months in prison and fined $28,000 for shooting mistletoe that never even won him a kiss. Cribbs, 60, who often has been on the wrong side of the law, actually received the sentence Tuesday from U.S. District Judge James Todd in Jackson, Tenn., for his guilty plea to being a felon in possession of a firearm.

The controversial sheriff served from 1976 to 1985 after which he served three years in prison for beating jail prisoners, intimidating grand jury witnesses and violating federal firearms laws in a separate case.

Cribbs also was convicted of state charges including misuse of public funds, filing a false insurance claim and stealing a sheep from a judge's property in Missouri. Seven others were convicted of crimes along with Cribbs in a widespread investigation of corruption in Dyer County.

He was arrested on Dec. 15, 1999, by officers from the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency who suspected him of using spotlights while hunting deer. When they stopped and checked him, they found a 12-gauge shotgun and a load of mistletoe they said he acknowledged shooting down from a tree.

Cribbs was charged with two counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm and faced up to 10 years on each count. Federal prosecutors allowed him to plead to one count, dropped the other and recommended the shorter sentence.

"Thirty-seven months and a $28,000 fine is sufficient punishment for shooting mistletoe," said prosecutor Steve Parker.

Lawrence Buser is a writer with The Commercial Appeal in Memphis, Tenn. Comment by clicking here.

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