ASHEVILLE — Former assistant Buncombe County manager Jon Creighton has reached a plea agreement with federal prosecutors, according to court records filed late Thursday.

Details of the deal were not immediately available. It comes about a month after the U.S. Attorney's Office said it was discussing plea agreements with 66-year-old Creighton and his co-defendants, former county managers Wanda Greene and Mandy Stone.

The trio was indicted in August on charges that include fraud and receipt of kickbacks or bribes. They're accused of participating in a yearslong kickback scheme with longtime county contractor Joe Wiseman.

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Because wire fraud charges can be served consecutively, the managers each face 580-year maximum prison sentences.

A document filed Thursday sets out facts Creighton will not dispute, including that the ex-managers "accepted trips and other things of value in return for being influenced in their performance of official acts."

Nor will Creighton dispute that through vacations paid for by Wiseman, the trio defrauded the county by falsely claiming the trips were for business and by failing to take annual leave.

Buncombe policy allows employees to receive additional compensation by selling back unused vacation days.

Creighton received more than $40,000 in gifts and things of value to which he was not lawfully entitled, according to court records.

Prosecutors said Wiseman and the three companies he has worked for since the mid-1980s, including his own, received more than $15 million in contracts.

Days after the indictment was handed up, commissioners terminated all outstanding contracts with Wiseman and his associated companies. Wiseman, a Georgia-based engineer with North Carolina ties, has not been charged.

The county is suing Wiseman and the former managers. Officials have not yet said how much they are seeking in damages.

Creighton retired in December after more than three decades at the county. While assistant manager, he also served as planning director.

His attorney, Chris Fialko of Charlotte, did not immediately respond to a request for comment late Thursday.

Four former employees have been indicted since federal officials launched an investigation into Buncombe County corruption last year. While Wanda Greene and Stone have pleaded not guilty, Michael Greene reached a plea agreement with prosecutors in which he admitted that he conspired to defraud the federal government.

Michael Greene is Wanda Greene's adult son. He was the county's business intelligence manager until resigning the same day officials confirmed his mother was under investigation.

He is awaiting sentencing and has until Nov. 1 to file any objections to a presentence investigation report, court records show.

This story will be updated.

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