FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NEWS RELEASE
March 19, 2018
For More Information, contact:
Mike Lewis (334) 353-2199
Steve Marshall
Joy Patterson (334) 242-7491
Page 1 of 1
Alabama Attorney General
ATTORNEY GENERAL STEVE MARSHALL ANNOUNCES ETHICS
LAW CONVICTIONS OF FORMER COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR;
CRIMES INVOLVED $753,889 OF FRANKLIN COUNTY FUNDS
(MONTGOMERY) -Attorney General Steve Marshall announced that the former County
Administrator of Franklin County was convicted of two felony ethics law violations involving
$753,889 of county funds. Crista Lynn Madden, age 48, of Franklin County, pleaded guilty
today in Franklin County Circuit Court.
Madden was arrested and pleaded guilty by way of Information this afternoon to one count of
Use of Official Position for Personal Gain and one count of Use of Equipment for Personal Gain.
The plea was taken in front of specially appointed Circuit Judge Pride Tompkins.
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 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,” said Attorney General Marshall. “For nearly a decade, Crista Madden
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.”
Madden faces a penalty of two to 20 years for each of the class B felonies and is required to pay
full restitution to Franklin County.
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501 Washington Avenue * Montgomery, AL 36104 * (334) 242-7300
www.ago.state.al.us
