KNOXVILLE — Jacob B. Price pleaded guilty on May 21 in Knox County Criminal Court to a misdemeanor charge of computer offense involving an amount less than $1,000. The charge stemmed from his embezzlement of funds from former employer George B. Cribbs III.

Price was originally indicted, along with co-defendant Erica Price, on felony charges of theft between $10,000 and $60,000 and a violation of the Tennessee Computer Act. The indictment followed a police report filed by Cribbs in March, who alleged the couple embezzled approximately $43,000 from his Knoxville gift shop between February 2020 and June 2021. According to the report, the Prices used Cribbs’s company debit card to purchase items on Amazon and had them delivered to their own addresses.

Knox County Criminal Court Judge Hector Sanchez imposed a judicial diversion sentence on May 21, placing Price on unsupervised probation until November. As part of the plea agreement, all charges against Erica Price were dismissed. Price has already paid $50,000 in restitution to Cribbs, who now resides in Celebration, Florida.

If Price remains compliant with the terms of his judicial diversion and avoids further legal trouble during the probation period, the case will be dismissed and he will be eligible to seek expungement of the record. Cribbs first reported the alleged thefts to authorities in Central Florida, whose investigation confirmed the debit card misuse and referred the case to Knoxville police for further action.