MARLIN (July 14, 2011)—Former Rosebud Police Chief Jeremiah Shults, who was convicted in April of evidence tampering, was sentenced Thursday in Marlin to 10 years probation, was ordered to serve 120 days in jail on weekends and must perform 180 hours of community service.
He was also fined $2,500.
The jail time was limited to weekends so Shults can keep his job as a computer technician.
In April, a Falls County jury found Shults guilty on one of two counts of evidence tampering.
An indictment handed up in late October 2010 says the charges stem from concealing alcoholic beverage containers at the scene of an accident and altering the driver’s seat of a vehicle.
After about six hours of deliberation that stretched into the night, jurors convicted Shults on the evidence tampering count stemming from the removal of beer cans from the vehicle involved in the accident, but acquitted him on the count stemming from allegations he moved a seat in the vehicle.
Shults decided to let the judge decide punishment.
The offense carries a possible penalty of two to 10 years in prison.
Shults turned himself in at the Falls County Sheriff’s Office on Nov. 1 after a warrant charging two counts of tampering with evidence was issued.
He was released after posting $10,000 bond.
Shults resigned as Police Chief on Oct. 12, 2010.
