Cherryville made headlines in an unsavory way in both 2012 and 2013.
Investigations by the SBI and FBI resulted in federal indictments against two city of Cherryville employees, four men tied to law enforcement, the police chief and two other Cherryville men.
All of those indicted skipped a trial and accepted plea deals. Three have since been sentenced.
Bonny Alexander and Jennifer Hoyle were each arrested in December 2012 following a state investigation.
Alexander, Cherryville’s former finance director, pleaded guilty to embezzling more than $435,000 over the course of six years.
Hoyle, Cherryville’s former utilities director, admitted to embezzling nearly $100,000.
In 2013, Alexander pleaded guilty to five counts of program embezzlement, and Hoyle pleaded guilty to three counts of program fraud.
Neither has been sentenced yet.
Charges against the women added to previous arrests made when federal agents served indictments against six Cherryville men involved in a crime ring. Four of the six had ties to law enforcement, and all have since pleaded guilty.
The convicted men include Mark Hoyle, Casey Crawford, Wesley Golden, David Mauney III, John Hendricks and Frankie Dellinger.
Crawford and Mauney were both full-time Cherryville police officers when FBI agents made the arrests.
Golden was on reserve with the Gaston County Sheriff’s Office, and Dellinger was on reserve with the Cherryville department, once working full-time in the department’s narcotics division.
Hoyle and Hendricks were acquaintances brought into the mix.
The six men were caught up in an FBI sting operation in which they helped transport what they thought was stolen property across the county.
Each pleaded guilty to charges ranging from transporting stolen goods and extortion to conspiracy.
Three of the men were sentenced in November. Crawford got 2 ½ years in prison, and Mauney was sentenced to 1 ½ years behind bars. Hendricks was sentenced to two years probation, including six months of home detention with electronic monitoring.
The others await sentencing, as does Former Cherryville Police Chief Woodrow “Woody” Burgess.
Burgess was not picked up on conspiracy charges with the other officers. He was arrested five months later for embezzlement. As part of the plea deal, Burgess pleaded guilty in June to one count of embezzlement, which accounted for five city checks, written for a total of $5,173, and three guns. Burgess ran the department for a decade.
What’s next: A Federal Court judge is expected to hand down sentences for the remaining defendants.
City employees who were wrapped up in the criminal activity no longer work for Cherryville.
Alexander and Burgess each retired. Jennifer Hoyle, Crawford and Mauney were fired.
Cherryville has filled those vacant positions.
Chief Chad Hawkins now heads up the police department.
Ben Blackburn took over as the new city manager after David Hodkins resigned, and Dixie Wall became the city’s finance director.
A new mayor, H.L. Beam, was elected in November. He was sworn in during a December City Council meeting.
Born and raised in Cherryville, Beam said he sees good things for Cherryville’s future.
Outgoing mayor Bob Austell said he thinks the city has already turned the corner.
Despite all the issues, Austell said the city starts its new year with a solid budget, good employees and determined elected officials.
“I feel like we’ve elected a good mayor, and we have a good council,” he said. “Our future is good.”