Former Henry County sheriff Frank Cassell will spend eight months in federal prison and pay a $15,000 fine, a federal judge ruled this morning.

Cassell, whose office was caught up in a corruption scandal involving stolen evidence and drug deals, pleaded guilty in May to making a false statement to an investigator. He will be allowed to self-report to prison in North Carolina in a few weeks.

Prosecutors had asked Judge James Turk for a five-year sentence, significantly more than the six to 12 months called for in sentencing guidelines, saying the former sheriff had abused the public trust and diminished the reputation of all law enforcement in the region.

Turk said he saw no reason to depart from the sentencing guidelines.

Cassell’s defense pointed to the former sheriff’s decades of public service and his community involvement and said he had made a mistake in judgment in trying to help a former deputy who was down on his luck.

That deputy, James Vaught, is also a defendant and became an informant in the case. Prosecutors have played tapes of the sheriff telling Vaught that he wouldn’t tell anyone the deputy had sold cocaine, and that he would help Vaught with a loan to conceal the drug sales proceeds.

“I am a compassionate person, trying to help anyone in need,” Cassell said before he was sentenced. “With James Vaught, I went too far and made a critical error in judgment. … I never expected to make my last court appearance as a defendant. … I have embarrassed and humiliated my family, my friends and colleagues. I am truly sorry.”

After Cassell's sentencing, former vice officer Patrick David Martin was sentenced to three months in prison on his conviction of possessing stolen firearms.

Turk said he thought the case warranted departing from sentencing guidelines, which call for a minimum of 12 months.

Testimony from Martin and statements from attorneys painted a picture of haphazard evidence-handling procedures in the sheriff’s office, where it was not unusual for officers to store evidence at home or in their personal vehicles. The two pistols that Martin pleaded guilty to possessing had been in the office for years and had come into his care when another officer retired. During an accreditation drive, superiors told him to get rid of the guns, so he took them home until they could be sold at the auctions the department held periodically. However, several auctions were held and Martin didn’t bring the guns back because, he said, he was too busy processing paperwork for the dozens of other weapons being sold or was off work at the time.

He told Turk he had no intention of keeping the guns for himself.

Since leaving the sheriff’s office in November, Martin has made his living building furniture and cabinets in a home workshop, where he has employed fellow defendant and former sheriff’s major James Keaton, who was convicted of possessing a stolen firearm and is awaiting sentencing.

Cassell's and Martin's court appearances were the first of a dozen sentencing hearings scheduled this week in the Henry County case. Of 20 defendants indicted on Halloween last year, 17 pleaded guilty to a variety of charges. Two more reached pretrial diversion agreements that will clear their charges if they stay out of trouble.

One defendant is scheduled for a jury trial in October.