FILE D

U.S. DISTRICT COURT

MIDDLE DISTRICT OF TENN.

APR s 0 2017
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
MIDDLE DISTRICT OF TENNESSEE
NASHVILLE DIVISION vtv
PUTY CLERK
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA }
NO._ 3:17-00061
V. }
18 U.S.C. 242
CHARLES SCOTT CRAVENS } 18 U.S.C. S 1343
18 U.S.C. 1346

INFORMATION
THE ACTING UNITED STATES ATTORNEY CHARGES:

General Allegations

At all times relevant to this Inf'ormation:

I. CHARLES SCOTT CRAVENS ("CRAVENS"") was the elected Sheriff of

Fentress County, Tennessee, CRAVENS was elected Sheriff in or about August 2014, having

been previously elected to serve as Sheriff from in or about September 2006 through in or about

August 2010. On or about April 14, 2017, CRAVENS resigned, effective April 28, 2017,

2. As Sheriff of Fentress County, CRAVENS was the chief law enforcement officer

in charge of the Fentress County Sheriff's Department ("FCSD"), which employs deputies,

correctional officers, and support staff. The FCSD is located in Jamestown, Tennessee, the county

seat of Fentress County, in the Middle District of Tennessee. Among other things, the FCSD

enforces law and order in the unincorporated areas of Fentress County, serves legal process and

court orders, provides security at the county courthouse, and transports prisoners. Among his

duties as Sheriff, CRAVENS was responsible for the operation of the Fentress County Jail, a

correctional facility housing approximately 147 male and female inmates.

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 I. As the elected Sheriff of Fentress County, CRAVENS owed a fiduciary duty to

Fentress County and its citizens to perform the duties and responsibilities of his office in their best

interests.

4. ", Inmate F is a female person who was incarcerated at the Fentress County Jail

beginning in or about May 2016 and ending in or about February 2017.

5. "Inmate 2" is a female person who was incarcerated at the Fentress County .fail

beginning in or about June 2016 and ending in or about November 2016.

6. "Inmate 3" is a female person who was incarcerated at the Fentress County .tail

beginning in or about May 2016 and eontint ing through the present.

7. "Inmate 4" is a male person who was incarcerated at the Fentress County Jail on or

about November 13, 2016.

COUNTS ONE THROUGH THREE

(Honest Services Fraud)

8. From at least in or about July 2016 and continuing through to on or about April 10.

2017, in the Middle District of Tennessee and elsewhere, the defendant. CHARLES SCOTT

CRAVENS, devised and intended to devise a scheme and artifice to defraud and deprive Fentress

County and its citizens of their right to the honest services of CRAVENS, a sheriff, through

bribery.

Purpose of the Scheme

9. The purpose of the scheme was for CRAVENS to use his position as Sheriff to

solicit sex from, and have sex with, female inmates at Fentress County .fail in return for taking

official acts to provide those inmates with benefits at the jail.

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 Things of Value: CRAVENS' Sexual Relationships with Inmates

10. In or about July 2016, CRAVENS summoned Inmate I to his office within the jail,

where Innate 1 and CRAVENS had oral and vaginal sex.

11, While at the jail in or about August 2016, CRAVENS, Inmate 1, and Inmate 2

discussed having sex and agreed to have sex together and agreed to a cover story to give them an

excuse to leave the jail together. Specifically. CRAVENS. Inmate 1. and Inmate 2 agreed that they

would tell other FCSD officers that they needed to haul cornstalks away from the jail. which

required them to leave the jail grounds together. Under CRAVENS' authority and supervision,

CRAVENS, Inmate 1, and Inmate 2 actually did move cornstalks away from the jail and disposed

of them. CRAVENS then drove Inmate 1 and Inmate 2 to a nearby vacant trailer, where he had

sex with them. After they had sex, CRAVENS reminded Inmate I and Inmate 2 that they should

tell anyone who asked that they had hauled cornstalks away from the jail. CRAVENS also told

Innnate I and Inmate 2 that they should say that a female correctional officer was with them.

12. CRAVENS continued to have sex with Inmate 1 and Inmate 2 periodically until

they were released from the jail. CRAVENS had sex with Inmate I on at least five total occasions;

he had sex with Inmate 2 on at least two total occasions. After they, had sex, CRAVENS told

Inmate 1 and Inmate 2 that they should not tell anyone about it.

13, In or about February 2017, CRAVENS. in his capacity as Sheriff, drove Inmate 3

to see a relative outside Fentress County. While returning to the jail, CRAVENS proposed having

sex, and inmate 3 agreed. After reentering Fentress County, CRAVENS and Inmate 3 had sex in

CRAVENS' vehicle.

14. CRAVENS and Inmate 3 had sex on at least one other occasion in Fentress County,

After having sex with Inmate 3, CRAVENS told her not to tell anyone about it.

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 1 5. Several of the above-described sexual acts took place in an official FCSD-issued

vehicle CRAVENS was authorized to drive.

Official Acts: CRAVENS' Furors for Inmate 1, Innate 2, and Inmate 3

16. In exchange for the three inmates agreeing to have sex with him and having sex

with him, CRAVENS used his position as Sheriff to provide Inmate 1, Inmate 2, and Inmate 3

with benefits at the . jail that other inmates did not receive or did not receive as often, including the

following:

17. On multiple occasions, CRAVENS transported Inmate I, Inmate 2, and Inmate 3

from the jail to visit their relatives in person.

18. On multiple occasions. CRAVENS allowed Innate 1 and Innate 2 to go outside

the jail building and smoke cigarettes, which CRAVENS personally provided or directed FCSD

correctional officers to provide.

Use of Interstate Wires to Execnte the Sehenre

19. Inmates at Fentress County Jail, including Inmate 1, Inmate 2, and Inmate 3, had

access to a telephone system that permitted them to make outgoing calls and make recordings that

could be delivered to voicemail boxes. All calls placed through this system, including recorded

messages, were transmitted to their recipients by Nvire, which traveled from Tennessee through

Texas and/or Georgia.

20. CRAVENS gave Inmate 1. Inmate 2, and Inmate 3 his personal cellular telephone

number so that they could contact him and instructed them to leave him a recorded message when

they needed or wanted things. As a result, Inmate I, Innate 2, and Inmate 3 used the Fentress

County Jail telephone system to contact CRAVENS and leave him recorded messages to request

the benefits he agreed to provide them in return for their having sex with him.

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 2I. Between on or about August 24. 2016. and on or about March 1.2017, in the Middle

District of Tennessee and elsewhere, CRAVENS, for the purpose of executing the above-

described scheme and artifice to defraud and deprive, and attempting to do so, transmitted and

caused to be transmitted by means of wire communications in interstate commerce, the following

communications from inmates using the Fentress County Jail telephone system:

Count Interstate Wire Transmission

One Inmate I used the Fentress County Jail telephone system to leave a recorded
message for CRAVENS approximatel 332 times.
Two Inmate 2 used the Fentress County .Jail telephone system to leave a recorded
message for CRAVENS approximately 51 times.
Three Innate 3 used the Fentress County Jail telephone system to leave a recorded
message for CRAVENS approximately 349 times.

All in violation of Title 18. United States Code, Sections 1343 and 1346,

COUNT FOUR
(Deprivation of Rights under Color of Lam,)

fHE ACTING UNITED STATES ATTORNEY FURTHFR CHARGES:

22. The allegations contained in paragraphs 1 through 3 and 7 of this Information are

hereby repeated, realleged, and incorporated by reference as though Bally set forth herein.

23. On or about November 13, 2016, the defendant, CHARLES SCOTT CRAVENS.

while acting under color of law, kicked Inmate 4 in his backside and then, after Inmate 4 was

handcuffed, struck Inmate 4 twice in the back of the head with his fist, willfully depriving him of

the right, secured and protected by the Constitution and laws of the United States, to be fiee fiom

the use of unreasonable force by a law enforcement officer.

All in violation of Titfe 18. United States Code, Section 242.

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 t

A ALOU TIROL JACK SMITH

Acting Chief, Public Integrity Section Acting United States Attorney
Criminal Division Middle District of Tennessee
United States Department of Justice

LAUREN BELL KA HRYN WSINGER

ANDREW LAING Assistant United States Attorney
Trial Attorneys, Public Integrity Section Middle District of Tennessee
Criminal Division
United States Department of Justice

Date: 4' -C I-,

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