David Ashburn
The former county coordinator and 911 director for Walker County, Ga., has been arrested in North Carolina. David Ashburn, who recently became city manager of the town of Red Springs, was arrested along with the town's police chief Ronnie Patterson.
Officials said the arrest came after a four-month criminal investigation regarding illegal removal of personnel records from the town hall.
The mayor, John McNeill, had called for the probe.
Asburn was charged with 10 counts of unlawful disposal of public records, 10 counts of unlawful removal of public records and 10 counts of conspiracy to commit removal of public records.
The investigation began after portions of Patterson's personnel file surfaced while Patterson was campaigning for sheriff, according to Spectrum News.
Warrants were issued to search for records in a vault at the town hall. It was claimed that Ashburn removed damaging Patterson personnel records from the vault sometime between Jan. 1 and Feb. 28 of this year.
Ashburn left Walker County government after Bebe Heiskell was defeated, and he took the post in Red Springs.