Former tourist director gets probation for embezzlement
WAYNESBURG – The former director of the Greene County Tourist Promotion Agency was sentenced to five years of probation on Tuesday for embezzling more than $2,000 from the agency. Carol Jean Howard, 32, of Sherrill Ford, N.C., formerly of Waynesburg, was sentenced before Greene County Judge H. Terry Grimes at 9 a.m. after pleading guilty to numerous charges. She was sentenced to serve numerous concurrent terms of five years of probation, plus 180 hours of community service, and was ordered to pay a $1,000 fine and court costs. She also was ordered to pay restitution, but already has done so, District Attorney Marjorie Fox said.
“Probation absolutely is within the proper range of sentencing. I defer to the judgment of the court,” Fox said.
The charges stemmed from an audit of Greene County Tourism for April 2006. An investigation by the Greene County controller’s office determined Howard embezzled $1,700 by using forged signatures on agency checks and stole an additional $497.72 through a false invoice.
Howard pleaded guilty in December to 10 felony counts of forgery, a felony charge of criminal use of a communication facility and nine misdemeanor counts, including theft by unlawful taking, tampering with public records, and theft by failure to make required disposition of funds received.
Howard repaid the $2,197.72 as soon as the discrepancies in the audit were brought to her attention, according to David Balint, county deputy controller and director of audits. The findings from the audit were presented to Howard on May 24, 2006, and she paid partial restitution two days later. The restitution was paid in full on June 9, Balint said.
Diane Kinney, who was president of the tourism board during Howard’s tenure as director, testified on behalf of the defense that she felt a plea agreement should have been reached with input from the tourism board rather than going to trial.
“I believe since the money was repaid and Carol paid not only with her job but with her standing in the community, that she’s paid enough,” Kinney said, adding that there never was “a dime out of place” before the investigation turned up Howard’s wrongdoing.
Kinney blamed Howard’s actions on “circumstances that happened in her life” and characterized her as a “good girl who made bad choices.”
After the hearing, Fox denied the possibility of approaching the tourism board with a plea hearing because the victim in the case was county taxpayers.
The charges against Howard concerned forged cashier’s checks and a faked invoice given to Balint as receipts during the course of the audit. Police said she also forged a co-signer’s name on two checks and altered an entry in the tourism agency’s books. She also was charged with depositing funds into her business account and failing to make deposits for the tourism agency.
The Greene County Salary Board accepted Howard’s formal resignation from the tourism ggency on June 6.