Former deputy sentenced to 16 months in theft case

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — A former Franklin County sheriff’s deputy has been sentenced to more than a year in prison after pleading guilty to keeping items taken when a suspect’s home was searched.

U.S. District Judge Gregory F. Van Tatenhove sentenced 32-year-old Matthew Christian Brown to 16 months in federal prison and ordered two months of home incarceration. Tatenhove also ordered Brown to pay more than $17,000 in restitution.

Brown pleaded guilty last fall to theft of government property.

The U.S. attorney’s office said in a news release on Monday that Brown was chief narcotics officer when he executed a search warrant at a suspect’s residence and seized a watch and ring that he kept instead of logging as evidence.

The release said Brown was a deputy sheriff from May 2007 until December 2012.

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