Several people faced sentencing in DeKalb Criminal Court last week, including a Nashville man charged with scamming an elderly Smithville woman, and a local couple for child abuse.

On Tuesday, November 19, 69-year-old Michael David Verble pled guilty to financial exploitation of an elderly adult and received a four-year sentence to serve concurrently with cases in Rutherford and Williamson Counties. He must make restitution of $3,500 to the victim by March 31. 2025. Verble was given jail credit of 419 days.

Verble was indicted in the case in July 2023, after he took $3,500 from a 74-year-old Smithville woman to set up a trust account and never followed through. Verble was charged with similar offenses in Williamson and Rutherford counties. He had been listed as having experience in the health care, financial services, and insurance industries.

Also sentenced last week, were a couple charged with child abuse of their four children. Kammi Dawn Horton, 22, and 22-year-old Takota Chayton Prinsloo of Antioch Road, Smithville, each pled guilty to two counts of child abuse of an eight-year-old or younger, and received a two-year sentence on TDOC supervised judicial diversion probation in each case to run consecutively for a total of four years. They must continue to comply with DCS rules. Prinsloo was given 103 days jail credit while Horton received 102 days.

According to DeKalb County Sheriff Patrick Ray, Horton and Prinsloo were asleep and left their two sons and two daughters unattended and in poor housing conditions, that effected the child’s health and welfare.

Sonni M. Fullilove, 30, pled guilty to possession with intent to sell a schedule II drug (meth) over 0.5 grams, and received an eight-year TDOC sentence to serve with a furlough to a treatment program. The sentence is to run concurrently with another case against him. He was fined $2,000 plus court costs.

Joshua M. Beckham, 32, pled guilty to two counts of possession with intent to sell a schedule II drug (meth) over 0.5 grams and received an eight-year sentence in each case to run concurrently and suspended to supervised probation. He was fined $4,000 and given 97 days jail credit.

Troy Allen Cunningham, 37, pled guilty to two counts of sale of methamphetamine over 0.5 grams and received an eight-year sentence suspended to supervised probation and fined $2,000.