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Ex-Dinwiddie County employee found not guilty of embezzlement

Posted at 12:15 AM, Mar 23, 2013
and last updated 2013-03-23 00:15:08-04

DINWIDDIE, Va. (WTVR) -- Sitting outside her Dinwiddie County home, Debbie Broughton is still trying to come to terms with everything that has happened.

For two years, she was the head of Dinwiddie County's Animal Control.

Under her tenure, the largest seizure of animals, when the county stepped in to save dozens of horses which lead to a conviction.

But shortly after that, Broughton was charged with embezzlement.

"I tried to tell everybody that I had not done anything wrong" she says from her front porch.

Broughton says, she was then fired from her job "I was proud of my career and proud of what my department had done" she said.

The charge came, Broughton says, because she helped a citizen take care of their dog, who was in dire need of vet care.  A citizen she says with terminal cancer and no means to pay the medical bills.

But almost four months would go by, before the felony charge made it to court.

On Thursday, Judge James D'Alton found Broughton not guilty of breaking any law or any county policy.

As for her job, Broughton says she'd love to have it back.