Former Rutherford County Sheriff's Major Pleads Guilty on Immigration, Fraud Charges

NASHVILLE, TN — A close friend and member of disgraced former Rutherford County Sheriff Robert Arnold's inner circle pleaded guilty Thursday to immigration and fraud charges. Former sheriff's Major Terry McBurney will be sentenced in May.

McBurney, 47, was born in Ireland and is now a naturalized citizen of the United States, but he admitted to lying multiple times about his citizenship status as he rose through the ranks of the sheriff's department to positions that require U.S. citizenship.

He pleaded guilty to nine counts. Two are related to lying and falsifying various documents to continue serving as a law enforcement officer. The remaining seven charges are connected to wire fraud, because he was paid for positions he would not have held if he had been truthful about his citizenship status.

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Judge Kevin Sharp emphasized to McBurney that any sentence, up to the maximum, could be levied against him. The wire fraud charges each hold up to 20 years in federal prison while the citizenship charges could draw up to 10 years each. Sharp is leaving the bench April 15, so another judge will oversee McBurney's sentencing May 12.

McBurney had been fired by Arnold's predecessor, Truman Jones. McBurney was first demoted after a DUI arrest in which he drove drunk and hit a Murfreesboro Police car and was ultimately fired after calling his wife to pick up property from an eviction, including a flat-screen television.

Arnold rehired McBurney, telling The Tennessean that Jones had actually fired McBurney for refusing to take a polygraph examination.

Arnold, his former chief administrative deputy Joe Russell and Arnold's uncle John Vanderveer pleaded guilty on federal fraud and extortion charges related to their illegally profiting off the sale of e-cigarettes to inmates at the Rutherford County Jail.

Image via Rutherford County Sheriff's Department.