RALEIGH, N.C. -- Governor Roy Cooper has appointed former Forsyth County District Attorney Tom Keith as interim District Attorney in Rockingham County, according to a news release on the Governor's website.
The appointment comes a day after former Rockingham County DA Craig Blitzer resigned from office amid a State Bureau of Investigation case involving his office.
Earlier in the week, SBI investigators raided the District Attorney's office. According to documents obtained by WFMY News 2, investigators with the SBI applied for a search warrant for a state-owned computer in possession of the Rockingham County DA. The warrant issued is part of an ongoing SBI investigation launched on July 26, 2016.
The SBI has been looking into allegations of the theft of state money at the offices of Blitzer and Person/Caswell County DA for Wallace Bradsher.
A lawsuit also recently filed against the two district attorney's offices, alleges the two men hired each others' wives. The women allegedly made more than $100,000 a year, combined.
The SBI began investigating after a former employee of Bradsher's filed a lawsuit. In the lawsuit, the former employee claims she was fired after notifying the SBI about the hirings.
According to the Governor's news release, Keith is a longtime state prosecutor who was elected as Forsyth County District Attorney five times until his retirement in 2009. He is the past president of the NC Conference of District Attorneys and has served on the NC Sentencing and Policy Commission as well as the NC Drug Treatment Court Advisory Committee.
He is a Wake Forest School of Law graduate.
Governor Cooper said Keith's extensive experience as a district attorney will serve the people of Rockingham County well until a permanent replacement is named, according to the news release.
The Governor said Keith will assume office Saturday, March 11.