View Comments ASHEVILLE - Former high-ranking Buncombe County elected official Ellen Frost has been sentenced to six months in prison for corruption. The sentence was unexpected following a plea deal with prosecutors who recommended no prison time. U.S. District Court Judge Robert J. Conrad imposed the punishment April 28 for the former Buncombe County Board of Commissioners Democratic vice chair, saying the case was unusual in that she did not gain monetarily, but that it had the "very serious nature of local government corruption." In the plea deal reached earlier this year, Frost admitted to conspiring with ex-County Manager Wanda Greene to misapply more than $575,000 of taxpayer's funds toward equestrian enterprises. In return, prosecutors agreed to recommend home confinement. They also agreed to give her a special avenue to appeal, though it was not clear after the hearing if she would.