In the Pike County Courthouse where he presided as a judge for nearly a decade, suspended Superior Court Judge Robert “Mack” Crawford pleaded guilty through an Alford plea Thursday to theft by taking. A charge of violating his oath of office and a second theft charge were dismissed.

Superior Court Judge Maureen Gottfried, on assignment from the Chattahoochee Judicial Circuit in Columbus, sentenced Crawford to 12 months of unsupervised, fee exempt probation and granted him first offender status. Crawford’s plea will not be made part of the court record at this time and will be sealed along with the charges, once his probation is complete.