By Jeff Aydelette

BAYBORO – A former president of the Pamlico County Chamber of Commerce pleaded guilty Friday to embezzlement but Superior Court Judge Ben Alford gave David Eugene Kitchen, 37, two months to pay the money back – a possible ameliorating factor to reduce the man’s prison time.
Evidence in the case revealed a total theft of more than $7,000. The crime occurred in February of last year, mere weeks after Kitchen was elected to lead the chamber. Sources within the District Attorney’s office said prosecutors offered no quid pro quo in exchange for the plea.
Reached Wednesday afternoon on his cell phone, which has a West Virginia area code, Kitchen immediately hung up on a reporter calling from this newspaper. The defendant’s New Bern-based attorney, Robert McAfee, did not return a phone call.
McAfee is a court-appointed attorney, available to Kitchen because the accused man claimed indigent status. However, the guilty plea obligates Kitchen to reimburse the State of North Carolina for all of McAfee’s legal fees.
In late 2008, Kitchen’s status as a newcomer to Pamlico County did not deter him from rapidly ascending within the leadership ranks of the chamber.
The path from new resident to supposedly trustworthy volunteer to chamber president was easier than it might have been because Kitchen’s wife, LaTriche, arrived in Pamlico County before her husband, and quickly found employment as the chamber’s executive director.
Confronted with the allegations in February of last year, the two resigned simultaneously – a day before David Kitchen was arrested. LaTriche Kitchen has not been accused or implicated in the charges against her husband.
The missing funds and abrupt resignations of the couple rocked the small group of approximately 200 area businesses – a setback from which the organization has not yet completely recovered.
Kitchen’s resume, on file with the chamber and with several local companies, lists jobs in four different states and cites his qualifications as ‘Help Desk support’ in the information technology industry.
He is a former pastor of Higher Ground Ministries in Barboursville, West Va. Shortly after arriving in Pamlico County, he assumed a similar position at Church of God Prophecy in Maribel.
Alford, the judge, and Kitchen, the felon, will meet again March 15 for sentencing. The maximum is 30 months. With no previous convictions, Kitchen has the best possible “Prior Record Level,” another mitigating factor that could help to reduce any active prison time.