DOBSON — The former assistant superintendent of Bassett Furniture Industries in Mount Airy has received an active prison sentence in connection with the largest embezzling case in Surry County history.

Michael Wayne Pennington, 46, of Mount Airy, pleaded guilty to 25 felony counts of embezzlement last week in Surry Superior Court.

Pennington, one of eight people accused of stealing at least $1.9 million worth of furniture items while they held management positions at the plant on Sheep Farm Road, was immediately taken into custody after his court appearance.

He was sentenced to three consecutive five-to-six-month active terms for a total of 15 months minimum to 18 months maximum. Upon his release, the former Bassett Furniture employee will be on probation for 60 months.

In addition to the regular conditions of probation, Pennington has been ordered to pay a fine of $5,000, perform 100 hours of community service work and testify truthfully and cooperate fully with the prosecution of remaining co-defendants.

Pennington is the fourth person to be tried in court among the eight people who were charged.

They were accused of stealing bedroom furniture, wardrobes and wooden tables from the Bassett plant. Past reports indicated that around 80 items were recovered on the day the investigation of the alleged wrongdoing began in 2005, along with another 300-plus pieces of furniture and accessories in the months that followed.

Defendants are alleged to have stolen what amounted to seven trailer loads of various furniture items.

Realizing the massive scope of the operation, local authorities with the Surry County Sheriff’s Office turned the investigation over to the State Bureau of Investigation. The N.C. Attorney General’s Special Prosecutions Unit is handling the disposition of the cases.

Last fall, former Plant Controller David Ray Slate received an active sentence of up to a year and a half in prison after pleading guilty to 25 counts of embezzlement.

In July 2008, Ron Jarrett, the former plant manager from 1988 to 2005, was sentenced to a minimum four years in prison for his role in the crimes. He pleaded guilty to seven felony counts of solicitation to commit embezzlement greater than $100,000.

And in August 2007, Lisa Marie Galyean Martin, the former safety director and shipping supervisor of the furniture plant, pleaded guilty to 25 felony counts of embezzlement. This was part of a plea bargain that called for the state to seek three active prison sentences of five to six months for Martin — who faced up to 62 years in prison — along with a $5,000 fine and 100 hours of community service.

The plea agreement requires that Martin, who has not been sentenced, cooperate fully with investigators until all prosecutions against the remaining defendants run their course. The judgment in Slate’s case also requires him to testify truthfully and cooperate with state investigators.

Others indicted in the case include Gary Vann Moser of Pilot Mountain, who was receiving supervisor at the plant; Maintenance Supervisor Jerry Conrad Tolbert of Mount Airy; Michael Gray Slate of Mount Airy, supervisor of configured tables and import line and the brother of David Ray Slate; and Production Manager Randall Lawless of Stuart, Va.

Most of those implicated had been employed by Bassett Furniture Industries Inc. for more than 10 years before being fired shortly after the probe began.

Production at the Bassett Furniture plant ceased after the case came to light.

Bassett’s Mount Airy distribution center closed March 1, and its work has been consolidated into other warehouses in the U.S. and Asia, a move the company said will reduce distribution costs by 7 percent.

The Mount Airy facility has been listed for sale.

Contact Tom Joyce at tjoyce@mtairynews.com or at 719-1924.