Former Alabama sheriff pleads guilty to lying to get loan for gambling debts

A former Alabama sheriff who resigned last year after impeachment proceedings were launched against him pleaded guilty to a criminal charge in federal court Monday.

William “Ray” Norris, 44, pleaded guilty to one count of making a false statement to a federally insured institution.

Norris, the former Clarke County sheriff, was indicted federally in the Southern District of Alabama on four counts of the crime earlier this year.

Authorities said he applied for four loans at two Alabama banks worth more than $48,000 and maintained that he would use the funds for his office’s operating expenses and jail food.

Norris, authorities said, instead used the loan money from Town County National Bank in Camden and Sweet Water State Bank in Sweet Water “for overdrawn personal accounts, gambling expenses, and other personal expenses,” according to the indictment.

The loans were taken out between November 2017 and October 2018 with amounts ranging from $9,500 to $14,000.

Norris resigned from his office in June 2021 after Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall moved to impeach him after being charged with four instances of corruption in office and eleven instances of commission of crimes involving moral turpitude.

The charges were dropped after Norris stepped down.

Norris faces up to 30 years in prison and a fine not to exceed $1 million. His plea agreement also calls for three years of supervised release following incarceration.

A sentencing date has not yet been set. Norris remains out of jail pending that sentencing hearing.