A former Alabama sheriff’s deputy, who allegedly forced a woman to cook methamphetamine, has reached a plea agreement, which was released early November.
Grady Keith Concord, 42, agreed to plead guilty to three federal charges—one count of extortion under color of official right, one count of manufacturing methamphetamine, and one count of manufacturing and distributing methamphetamine on premises where children are present or reside—according to a U.S. Attorney’s office press release.
Concord was charged with manufacturing methamphetamine in June, when he was arrested. As part of the plea deal, Concord, who was a sheriff’s deputy with the Winston County Sheriff’s Office, agreed to surrender all law enforcement certifications and to not seek future employment in law enforcement or custodial oversight.
“We were informed of his criminal behavior, we investigated, and we made an arrest. This is something we do daily,” Sheriff Rick Harris said in June. “There is nothing easy about policing your own employees. You just want to see them in a better view, but sometimes they fail you and themselves.”
In July 2013, Concord allegedly forced a woman to manufacture methamphetamine for him, arranging to supply pseudoephedrine, a meth ingredient, in exchange for the finished product.
According to the press release, Concord, a meth user, obtained some of the decongestant pills, which contain pseudoephedrine, from the sheriff’s office evidence room. The woman, who lives in Nauvoo, claimed Concord threatened to arrest her if she did not cook the methamphetamine. Concord denied this, but conceded that she might have felt that she “had no choice but to accept his offer” because he was a sheriff’s deputy.
Since his arrest in June and being fired from the sheriff’s department, Concord has remained in jail with bond set at $500,000.
Awaiting his sentence, Concord could face a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for extortion, 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine for manufacturing methamphetamine, and 20 years and a $2 million fine for manufacturing methamphetamine in the presence of a minor.