
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, December 17, 1994                   TAG: 9412190063
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: RICHARD FOSTER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

BEDFORD SHERIFF SETTLES FOR $2,000

Bedford County Sheriff Carl Wells paid $2,000 to settle his yearlong dispute with the Bedford County Board of Supervisors over $15,000 in interest from payroll funds, according to the Bedford County Treasurer's Office.

Treasurer Norma Edwards received Wells' check Friday.

Wells was at odds with the Board of Supervisors over $15,000 in interest accrued from payroll funds deposited into his personal checking account. Wells wrote employees' paychecks from the account for many years.

Since suing Wells in May, the board has spent more than $21,000 in its attempt to recover the disputed $15,000.

As a condition of the settlement, Wells and the board members agreed not to disclose the amount he paid to settle the suit. Sources close to the lawsuit said earlier this week that Wells paid less than $2,800.

Special prosecutor Eric Sisler concluded an investigation into Wells' commingling of payroll funds earlier this year, stating that the sheriff had not committed any illegal act. Wells stopped depositing payroll funds into his personal checking account a few months before a new state law made the practice illegal.

Sisler reported that Wells bought a pickup truck with the interest from the funds.

by CNB