Tennessee man granted presidential pardon

Thursday, November 24, 2011

A three-year effort to obtain a pardon from the president of the United States ended Monday when a Jonesborough, Tenn., man learned Barack Obama had pardoned him of a 16-year-old federal felony conviction.

In a written statement, Thomas Paul Ledford of Jonesborough said he was contacted by phone at 9:50 a.m. on Monday that the president had signed his pardon.

"I'm stunned," he wrote. "I am a pardoned felon. My wife believed it was possible. I believed the pardon would never be granted."

Ledford pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit gambling on June 12, 1995. He was fined $50 and served 12 months of probation.

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