The Yancey County Sheriff's office has released details on the investigation of the incident where former chief deputy Thomas Farmer pawned his service weapon.  Yancey County Sheriff Gary Banks was made aware of the incident in February of 2011 and turned the investigation over to the District Attorney's office. The investigation reveled that on nine occasions, Farmer had pawned three guns that were the property of the Yancey County Sheriff’s Office.  These guns included one Remington shotgun, and two Sig Sauer handguns. On Friday, July 06, Thomas Lloyd Farmer appeared in front of Judge Alexander Lyerly in Mitchell County District Court. Farmer pled guilty to one misdemeanor count of Willfully Failing to Discharge Duties which is a Class 1 Misdemeanor. He was given a sentence of 60 days which was suspended and he was placed on unsupervised probation for a period of 12 months. He was also ordered to complete 48 hours of community service. Additionally he was ordered to pay court costs, fine, and community service fees totaling $940.  As part of this plea arrangement, one charge of Felony Embezzlement was dismissed by the District Attorney.
The following letter was received as a press release from Yancey County Sheriff Gary Banks
(Read Letter)