By Billy Davis

David Chandler, the former county administrator, was sentenced Thursday to fourteen months in a federal prison, concluding four years of cooperation with the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Oxford in a wide-ranging   investigation of fraud and bribery.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office used Chandler to pursue other suspects while holding a 26-count indictment against him while he cooperated.

Chandler wore a wire to secretly record conversations with businessman Lee Garner and Ray Shoemaker, a former hospital executive at Tri-Lakes Medical Center.

Garner’s conviction was tossed out by a federal judge due to a technicality. The tossed sentence help Shoemaker, too, though he is in prison on unrelated convictions.

Chandler also wore a wire to meetings with local Batesville businessmen who were plotting to help Dr. Robert Corkern regain some ownership in Tri-Lakes.

Corkern pleaded guilty to bribing Chandler with $25,000 to get $400,000 in Panola County funds.
At one point during the 2011 trial Chandler testified he was facing 21 to 27 months in prison after cooperating with federal prosecutors.

Chandler pleaded guilty to one count of embezzlement and one count of mail fraud last December.

In addition to his prison sentence, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office said Chandler was fined $40,000, ordered to pay $33,564 in restitution, and must serve 200 hours of community service to Panola County.

Chandler was ordered to report for prison on April 22.