FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NEWS RELEASE
June 11, 2018
For More Information, contact:
Mike Lewis (334) 353-2199
Steve Marshall
Joy Patterson (334) 242-7491
Page 1 of 1
Alabama Attorney General
AG STEVE MARSHALL ANNOUNCES 20-YEAR PRISON SENTENCES FOR
FORMER COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR FOR FELONY ETHICS CRIMES
INVOLVING $753,889 OF FRANKLIN COUNTY FUNDS
(MONTGOMERY) -Attorney General Steve Marshall announced that the former
County Administrator of Franklin County was sentenced today to two terms of 20 years in
prison, to run concurrently, for violating the Alabama ethics law resulting in unlawful gain
of more than $753,889 of county funds. Crista Lynn Madden, age 49, of Franklin County,
pleaded guilty on March 19 in Franklin County Circuit Court to two felony ethics
violations: use of her official position for personal gain and use of public equipment for
personal gain. In addition, she was ordered to pay full restitution to Franklin County.
In December of 2007, Madden began a scheme by which she generated false records
of checks and then made the originals payable to herself. She would create a false purchase
order for a fictitious vendor and generate a check payable to that company. Before printing
the check, she placed a strip of tape on the paper where the name for payee would be
printed. For county records, she would make a copy of the check that showed the company
name. She then removed the tape from the original and reprinted the check with her own
name listed as payee. The check was then deposited into her personal account. She
continued this scheme until she left the position in July of 2017, depositing a total of
$753,889 in various private bank accounts that she held.
The matter was discovered in an audit by the Alabama Department of Examiners of
Public Accounts and investigated by Special Agents of the Attorney General’s Office. After
being confronted by Special Agents, Madden gave a full confession to both offenses.
“The sentence imposed on Crista Madden of many years in prison properly reflects
the importance of deterring public employees from exploiting their offices for personal
gain,” said Attorney General Marshall. “The people of Alabama deserve honest and
trustworthy service from public employees and officials, and as Attorney General I am
committed to prosecute those who abuse their positions for illegal personal gain. For nearly
a decade, this defendant systematically plundered funds that belonged to Franklin County
and betrayed her public trust. Due to the vigilance of the Examiners of Public Accounts, her
crimes were discovered and reported to my office. I want to commend the outstanding
work by Assistant Attorneys General Katie Langer and Chris Moore of my Criminal Trials
Division and Special Agents of the newly-formed Cybercrime Lab in my Investigations
Division for bringing this case to a successful conclusion.”
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501 Washington Avenue * Montgomery, AL 36104 * (334) 242-7300
www.ago.state.al.us
