Former Jefferson attorney Michelle Shepherd pled guilty to multiple felony embezzlement and obtaining property by false pretense charges today in a superior court session at the Ashe County Courthouse.

Altogether, Shepherd was sentenced to serve between 15 and 20 years in prison.

Shepherd pled guilty to 16 Class C felony embezzlement charges, 10 Class C felony charges of obtaining property by false pretense and one Class H felony charge of obtaining property by false pretenses.

Over an eight-year period of time, Shepherd’s fraudulent behavior affected 275 parties totaling in excess of $5.5 million. According to investigator Wade Colvard from the State Bureau of Investigation, it was the largest confirmed theft by an attorney in the state’s history. Colvard learned this after speaking with an official from the N.C. Bar Association.

After witness testimony and statements from previous clients, Shepherd was sentenced on a consolidated charge. The three Class C felony charges were consolidated to 60 to 81 months in prison for each count. Altogether, Shepherd will serve between 15 and 20 years in prison.

Prior to sentencing, District Attorney Tom Horner provided some closing comments.

“The punishment can’t be great enough, she deserves every day the court gives her,” Horner said. “She has made her bed and now she must lie in it.”

Shepherd agreed with Horner’s remarks.

“I am glad that I was caught, the whole matter was eating at my soul. Everything I tried to do to make things better only got worse and kept snowballing,” she said.

“I want everyone to know I will work to my dying day to make this right,” Shepherd said.

“I just wanted the best for my family.”

Visit the www.jeffersonpost.com Tuesday afternoon for statements from Shepherd’s stepson and testimony from the victims