Former Lander County sheriff pleads guilty of embezzlement

Friday, Aug. 5, 2005 | 9:30 a.m.

SUN CAPITAL BUREAU

CARSON CITY -- Former Lander County Sheriff Mike Kranovich has been placed on 36 months probation for felony embezzlement of $1,500 from the county.

The state Attorney General's Office said Thursday Kranovich pleaded guilty to the charge Monday that he pocketed county money for personal use and misused his county credit card. The former sheriff also was convicted in federal court of embezzling money from a fund to pay for undercover drug operations.

Lander County allocated $1,500 to the sheriff to pay for convention expenses. But he used the county credit card to pay for those expenses and used it also to pay for airline tickets for his wife to Hawaii and Dallas.

The sentence was handed down Monday in Battle Mountain by Senior District Judge Norm Robison who ordered him to repay $700 to the county.

Conrad Hafen, chief of the criminal division in the attorney general's office, said "With the overwhelming evidence we had that Kranovich committed these crimes, this is a fair resolution."

Kranovich was also convicted in federal court of stealing an estimated $15,000 from criminal forfeiture funds.

From July 2001 to January 2002, Kranovich cashed checks on the account and he also kept funds in a locked box to which he only had access. The account was drawn down from $21,600 to $5,000.

The money belonged both to the federal and state governments.

Hafen said Kranovich is awaiting sentencing on the federal charge but it carries a mandatory prison term.