By Malia Mendez
Los Angeles Times
PENSACOLA, Fla. — Todd Chrisley has reportedly been removed from his position as a chaplain’s assistant at the Florida prison where he is currently serving 10 years for tax evasion, fraud and conspiracy.
The former “Chrisley Knows Best” star’s firing came after prison officials at the Pensacola facility saw him “associating with inmates” who are part of the prison’s Residential Drug Abuse Program, his attorney, Jay Surgent, told People on Thursday.
Chrisley’s firing came as a surprise, Surgent said, because during the two years the TV personality held his position, the prison chaplain had always been satisfied with his services.
“For no reason after all this time, he’s dismissed saying he can’t do it anymore,” Surgent told Us Weekly, adding that his client wasn’t aware he’d done anything wrong. “They had no hearing, there was no announcement.”
A rep for the Federal Bureau of Prisons declined to comment about the situation, telling TMZ, “For privacy reasons, we do not comment on the conditions of confinement for any incarcerated individual, including their work detail assignments.”
In June 2022, Todd and Julie Chrisley were convicted of tax evasion and bank fraud, with the former real estate tycoon receiving 12 years for his part in a scheme that went on for five years before the couple’s reality TV fame. Amid news of their sentencing, USA Network canceled “Chrisley Knows Best” and spinoff series “Growing Up Chrisley.”
Todd’s sentence was later reduced by two years after the “model inmate” qualified for the reduction under the First Step Act, the Tallahassee Democrat reported.
A federal judge last month resentenced Julie Chrisley to seven years in prison for her conviction on bank fraud and tax evasion charges, declining the reality TV star’s request for less time than was originally imposed.
In the aftermath of her parents’ guilty verdict, Savannah Chrisley has publicly slammed the federal justice system and shared family attorneys’ efforts to appeal her parents’ convictions and sentences, including on her “Unlocked” podcast and at this year’s Republican National Convention.
The 27-year-old former beauty queen previously said she believes God placed her father at the Pensacola Federal Prison Camp to “truly make a difference.”
“He is working in the chapel, which is absolutely amazing and I could never be more proud of my dad and the man that he is,” Savannah said on her podcast in 2023. She added that it was “amazing” to hear about “all the people that are coming to know Jesus in that place.”
While Todd Chrisley is “very disappointed and upset” to no longer be facilitating religious services at Pensacola — which serve Christian, Jewish and Muslim inmates — Surgent said, his client’s dismissal “has not affected his firm belief that in the end, God will work things out for him, Julie, and his family.”
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