PENDER COUNTY — After around nine hours of deliberations, a jury has returned its verdict in a trial of a superior court clerk in Pender County. Elizabeth Craver was found not guilty on three felony counts of obtaining property by false pretenses, according to a 12-person jury.
It was a full day of sitting and waiting for their decision, though the jury did ask around 11 a.m. for three pieces of evidence to review, including text exchanges and timesheets for Craver’s former employee, Kristal Moore. By 4 p.m., it seemed a decision would be unlikely but by 5:30 p.m. when Superior Court Judge William Stetzer was ready to recess the courtroom, he stated the jury had reached a verdict.
READ MORE: Prosecutors: Jury must act as ‘check and balance’ in Craver trial
Upon announcement of not guilty, Craver’s side of the gallery seemed audibly pleased with the decision. As she wiped away tears and hugged her attorneys, James Allard and Geoffrey Hosford, Craver said after the verdict: “I’m thankful to my staff, my family, my friends, and everyone that’s been here to support me.”
Her attorney, Allard, chimed in: “The verdict speaks for itself.”
The case has been a two-year affair, with prosecutors alleging Craver used roughly $1,400 in county funds to purchase items for personal use, including a MacBook Air laptop, office chairs and a portable air conditioning unit.
Craver took the stand during the trial and maintained she followed the law while conducting her job as court clerk and purchasing items she said were for work purposes only. The state brought nine witnesses to prove Craver was guilty of misuse of taxpayer funds and urged the jury to stop her from continuing this behavior. Prosecutors Jordan Ford and Sarah Garner likened Craver’s alleged misconduct to a “small cut,” which if left unaddressed would become “a gaping open wound.”
Craver’s attorneys brought one witness to the stand, a current Pender County clerk’s office employee, and concluded the state’s case was “nonsense,” blaming its escalation on pettiness.
“Two years of investigation into Craver’s ten-year career and this where we are,” Allard said in his closing argument. “If this is the level of corruption, I think Pender County will be OK.”
Craver was appointed in 2017 and elected to full terms in 2018 and 2022; she is up for re-election this year and is on the primary ballot. Her trial concluded on the same day that polls opened and closed for Primary Election Day voting.
As she was exiting the courthouse after the verdict on Tuesday, Craver told people close to her that she was excited to focus purely on the race, with only two hours left open in the polls. Craver faces off against Camille Costin Harrell, former employee appointed interim clerk following Craver’s 2024 suspension due to the charges.
After an indictment hearing against Craver was held, Judge Kent Harrell ruled though the court clerk may have mishandled some incidents, no willful misconduct was done. He determined she was able to return to her position; Harrell resigned from the office shortly thereafter.
Defense’s case
The defense strategy relied heavily on Craver’s own testimony, which spanned several hours over Friday afternoon and Monday morning. Over the course of her time on the stand, Craver maintained her contested purchases were made out of administrative necessity, not as a scheme to defraud the public.
Central to the state’s case was a 2017 MacBook Air found at Craver’s residence which she purchased for approximately $300 using her personal credit card. She later submitted a reimbursement request to the Pender County Finance Department, labeling the expenditure under the court facility budget.
Prosecutors alleged the device was unnecessary because Craver was already issued a state Lenovo ThinkPad. State Bureau of Investigation digital forensic analyst Courtney Dail testified the MacBook was linked to Craver’s personal Apple ID and contained browsing history for retail shopping and traveling, with only five logins occurring during standard work hours over a year.
Craver and her defense team countered that the purchase was an attempt to temporarily replace her state-issued laptop until she could get a new one, which she testified had persistent connectivity and software issues. Craver told the jury she specifically chose a refurbished, used model to save the county money — arguing that if she intended to “cheat” the system, she would have purchased a brand-new device.
The defense explained the laptop’s low usage — 16 times from Nov. 2022 to Nov. 2023 — as a result of technical frustration rather than intent to solely have the device for personal use. Craver testified having never owned an Apple computer, she found the Mac operating software confusing and was unable to easily navigate to programs like Microsoft Word, which she said is used frequently for work. As a result, she said, the laptop was not used for work purposes as often as personal use.
The defense followed a similar narrative regarding a portable air conditioning unit purchased by Craver. According to her testimony, the A/C unit was placed at The Nifty Place, an off-site retail business used to store court files during courthouse renovations. Craver said she noticed a mold smell in the building and purchased the unit with her personal credit card intending to better circulate air to protect the documents from potential damage.
She explained the unit was delivered to her home to prevent potential theft at the courthouse before she transported it to The Nifty Place. When the unit proved defective, Craver testified she sought a refund from a third-party vendor through Walmart.
Though Burgaw Walmart employee Melissa Ramos testified that store records did not reflect a formal return of the A/C unit, Craver maintained she received a refund to her personal card and wrote a check to the county to reimburse the public funds. The defense argued this reimbursement proved she had no intent to permanently deprive the county of money.
Addressing a text message sent to former Pender County facilities and fleet manager Jeremy Drummond telling him “not to say anything” about the equipment, Craver characterized the exchange as a byproduct of extreme stress following the charges against her. She testified she was relieved the A/C unit had been located and feared they would be misplaced or moved again while the investigation was ongoing.
Shopping trip testimony
Jurors also heard testimony about a 2019 trip to Wilmington in which Craver accompanied former deputy clerk Kristal Moore to shop for a wedding dress during normal courthouse business hours while both were being paid by the state.
Moore previously testified the outing occurred in the middle of the workday and that she recorded the time as hours worked. Prosecutors characterized the trip as an improper use of taxpayer-funded staff time.
While Craver admitted to the trip, she denied it was criminal. She testified she and Moore were personal friends and said the outing coincided with a doctor’s appointment she had scheduled in Wilmington. Craver told jurors it was already dark when they entered the dress shop and maintained the trip did not consume the entire workday.
Craver acknowledged instructing Moore to tell her supervisor they were going on a “bank trip,” but said it was not an attempt to conceal wrongdoing. Instead, Craver testified she did not want other employees to feel she was giving Moore special treatment by taking her out of the office for the trip.
The defense further argued Craver was not responsible for the technicalities of Moore’s timecard. Moore admitted to filing her time as hours worked the day of the trip, despite the outing being personal in nature. Craver explained to the jury the clerk’s office operates on an “honor system” where deputy clerks are responsible for their own time entries, approved by the assistant clerks who directly supervise the deputies. She testified she never explicitly instructed Moore on how to log the hours and noted it was Moore’s direct supervisor’s role, not the clerk of court’s, to police daily time submissions.
Addressing the trip, Allard told the jury, “It was irresponsible, Elizabeth said that out of her own mouth. If a crime was committed in that scenario, it was committed when Kristal Moore entered her time and submitted it to the state.”
Campaign activity allegations
In addition to allegations about equipment purchases and staff time, prosecutors also accused Craver of improperly involving courthouse employees in her 2022 re-election campaign. The allegations of misconduct related to prior campaign activity were not directly tied to the felony false pretenses charges before the jury, though prosecutors presented the testimony as part of a broader argument concerning workplace management and use of public authority.
Addressing those claims, Craver testified that while a meeting with staff was held regarding her re-election, she explicitly instructed participation was “100% voluntary.” She maintained no employees were punished for declining to help, nor were any promoted as a result of participation.
Craver said she directed employees to engage in campaign activities only on their personal time and in accordance with Administrative Office of the Courts guidelines. She told jurors she instructed staff to remain off the clock for any political activity.
Prosecutors, however, played a recording from Craver’s 2024 indictment hearing in which she referenced community service leave, sick time and personal time as potential options employees could use if they wished to campaign on her behalf.
SBI agent Anthony Sampogna testified he was “surprised” to hear Craver tell jurors she required staff to use only personal time, given her earlier statement referencing multiple categories of leave.
The defense’s only other witness, current clerk’s office employee Bethany Frazier, supported Craver’s account of the pre-campaign meeting. Frazier testified she never felt pressured by Craver to campaign on her behalf and was never directed to perform political work while on the state’s clock.
Closing arguments
During closing arguments, defense attorney James Allard characterized the state’s case as one centered on administrative judgment rather than criminal intent, arguing prosecutors failed to show Craver intended to defraud the county. Allard said the evidence demonstrated, at most, workplace disagreements and poor decision-making rather than fraud.
Allard reiterated the position that the A/C unit was not used personally and was placed at The Nifty Place to help protect stored court documents from potential damage. Regarding the laptop purchase, he argued Craver’s decision to buy a refurbished MacBook was impractical but not criminal.
Allard also addressed testimony surrounding the 2019 shopping trip involving Kristal Moore, noting that she acknowledged completing her own timecard without direction from Elizabeth Craver. He asked jurors what evidence showed Craver encouraged or instructed Moore to falsify records, arguing the “honor system” the clerk’s office relied on for time reporting reflected poor practice rather than criminal intent.
He told jurors “poor judgment isn’t a crime” and suggested prosecutors used emotionally charged language — including references to corruption and toxicity — to influence jurors’ perceptions of Craver rather than prove criminal conduct.
During the state’s closing argument, assistant district attorney Sarah Garner reiterated prosecutors’ allegations Craver used county funds to purchase items for personal benefit.
Garner focused on the laptop, chairs and portable A/C unit purchased with public money, telling jurors Craver “let you pick up the tab.” She argued residents of Pender County and taxpayers statewide were victims of alleged misconduct.
“She wanted to buy some stuff and wanted you to pay for it,” Garner said to the jury.
Garner also challenged Craver’s testimony regarding campaign guidance to staff, referencing her earlier statements about the use of personal time, community service leave and sick time. Pointing to the defendant while addressing the jury, Garner asked: “Which Elizabeth Craver do you believe?”
[Ed. note: This story was updated with more information regarding evidence, testimony and closing arguments presented by both the defense and prosecution.]
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