Coeburn Middle secretary pleads guilty to embezzlement
In a separate case, audits of financial records at St. Paul Elementary School are still under way to determine the extent of missing funds there.
By STEPHEN IGO
[email protected]
WISE "? A former Coeburn Middle School secretary pleaded guilty Wednesday to stealing school funds, one week after another former Wise County school secretary was indicted on embezzlement charges.
Patricia Bryant, 44, of Coeburn entered her guilty plea before Circuit Judge Joseph Carico on Tuesday to three felony counts of embezzlement. Bryant was charged by a Wise County grand jury last November following an investigation into discrepancies in the school finance records discovered by and reported to school officials by a new school principal.
Bryant was indicted on allegations involving $50,000 of missing cash. Carico sentenced Bryant to 30 years in prison but suspended all 30 years of her sentence. Bryant was also ordered to pay restitution to the school division and perform 500 hours of community service.
Wise County Commonwealth's Attorney Ron Elkins said he was satisfied with an investigation that wound up in a guilty verdict, but he wasn't so pleased with state sentencing guidelines he said are too lenient toward embezzlers.
Elkins said he is "disgusted"? because sentencing guidelines only call for probation in embezzlement cases.
"Sometimes the law and the punishment just don't match,"? Elkins said in a prepared statement. "My opinion is that anyone who steals money from children should go to jail. Unfortunately, in cases such as this one, prosecutors' hands are tied by the severe leniency of the state's sentencing guidelines."?
Elkins said if Bryant fulfills the court's demand for restitution, however, at least some good might come of the scandal.
"Our primary goal here was to get money back to the school system,"? he said. "I'm proud of the work done by my office, the Virginia State Police and the Coeburn Police Department toward that end. With this plea, we were able to ensure that taxpayer money will be returned to Wise County schools to be used for the benefit of our children."?
Audits of financial records at St. Paul Elementary School, meanwhile, are still under way to determine the extent of missing funds there.
A former school secretary at that school, 41-year-old Deborah Gail Phillips, was indicted by the Wise County grand jury last week on four counts of embezzling school funds during the period of March 20, 2004, through July 4, 2007. The Phillips investigation began last year as well after school officials began conducting audits of every county school as a result of the Bryant probe.
Each count of last week's indictment against Phillips charges her with stealing $200 or more, a legal threshold of felony theft.
During the first term of the current school year, the Wise County school division adopted new cash-handling guidelines as a result of the two cases.
More school employees are now included in the moneyhandling process and must account for cash that flows through school offices from a variety of sources that include fund-raising activities, student field trip fees and vending machine proceeds.
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