A former state social worker has been convicted of filing false child abuse complaints against two people in her Grayson County community – one a former close friend and the other, the pastor of a church she attended.

Beth Bond, 40, who also has pleaded guilty to similar offenses in Hardin County, was convicted Monday in Grayson District Court on four counts of official misconduct and four counts of falsely reporting an incident, Grayson County Attorney Clay Ratley said.

She was sentenced by Grayson District Judge Kenneth Goff to one year in jail, the maximum sentence for the misdemeanor convictions, but will remain free on bond pending an appeal, Ratley said. Bond also was ordered to pay a $300 fine.

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Shawna Beauchamp, Bond's former friend, said the verdict, coming more than two years after the false complaints began, was a huge relief. Beauchamp's family was the target of some of the false reports that involved lurid allegations of violence, drug abuse and sexual abuse of children.

Each false allegation brought police and social workers with the state Cabinet for Health and Family Services to the door, demanding to investigate, often in the middle of the night when the family was asleep.

"This has been going on for two and a half crazy years," Beauchamp said. "It's finally over. A weight has been lifted off my shoulders. It's a good feeling."

Beauchamp, a middle school teacher's aide, said she has never determined a motive for the false reports and Bond hasn't offered any explanation. Bond did not testify at the trial Monday, and her lawyer did not put on any witnesses in her defense, Ratley said.

Beauchamp was among witnesses called by the prosecution.

"Unfortunately, I had to relive some of those moments one last time," Beauchamp said. "I was able to tell my story. I hated having to relive it again but it was worth it."

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The false allegations were made against Beauchamp's husband, Jerry Beauchamp. Separate false reports were made against Roger Allen, the pastor of the Baptist Church that both Beauchamp and Bond attended.

Allen told the Courier-Journal in 2015 that it was hard to defend himself against anonymous false complaints that also sent police and social workers to his home to investigate alleged child abuse.

"They make you feel like you're guilty, and nothing you say makes any difference," he said.

Beauchamp told the Courier-Journal that when the false complaints began around October 2014, Bond expressed sympathy and offered to use her position as a state social worker to check confidential records to try to find out who was making the complaints.

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In April 2015, Bond moved from Grayson County to Hardin County because she was transferred by the state after she was suspended for mishandling confidential information on cases. State records show the cabinet originally planned to fire Bond but backed off after she appealed.

In Hardin, Bond was charged with making false complaints against a young couple who lived upstairs in her Elizabethtown apartment complex, false reports that began April 1, 2015 – her first day on the job in that county.

She resigned her job June 1, 2015, after she was charged in Hardin. Bond was arrested in October 2015 on the charges in Grayson.

The young couple in Elizabethtown, Corey Chaney and April Rodgers, who lived in the apartment with their infant daughter, reported similar instances of police and social workers arriving in the middle of the night to investigate bizarre claims of abuse, violence and drug activity.

Bond last year pleaded guilty in Hardin District Court to six misdemeanor counts of complicity to make false complaints and received a 12-month suspended sentence. Joseph Applegate Jr., Bond's then-fiancee, pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count in connection with the false reports and also received a 12-month suspended sentence.

Beauchamp said the Grayson County jury deliberated about an hour Monday before finding Bond guilty of all eight offenses. She said Bond showed no reaction when the verdict was announced.

"She had an expressionless look on her face," Beauchamp said. "No emotion."

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Beauchamp said that after the trial ended, the judge commented that in 30 years on the bench, he'd never seen a case like this one.

"I'm just glad it's over," she said. "The truth has finally come out."

Contact Deborah Yetter at 502-582-4228 or at dyetter@courier-journal.com.