ALEXANDRIA, La. (AP) — The former police chief of the town of Ball, who was arrested over a year ago, accepted a plea deal on a charge of unauthorized use of funds.
Nate Ussery, who had served as the chief of the Ball Police Department, faced several charges when he was arrested in December 2018. All but one of those charges was dropped, and a felony count of malfeasance in office was reduced to misdemeanor unauthorized use of less than $1,000, news outlets reported.
Ussery pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor charge Monday in the Rapides Parish courthouse, according to news outlets. A six month parish prison sentence was deferred.
Judge Mary Doggett sentenced Ussery to a $500 fine plus court costs, news outlets reported. He was also sentenced to one year of unsupervised probation , which defense attorney Adam Huddleston said was because Ussery’s job requires him to travel to Canada.
Elected in 2014, Ussery was police chief until his resignation in February 2018 amid rumors he was under investigation.