It hurts my heart to hear stories about people stealing from innocent people. I also hate to hear about public officials stealing from the coffers they are there to monitor and protect. The book should be thrown at both of these groups of thieves.
Theft of Epic Proportions
It is no surprise that she is keeping her mouth shut – anything she says may incriminate her. Continuing to maintain her silence about a theft of historic proportions, convicted public-funds embezzler Catherine A. Betts was driven to prison last week.
Betts, the former county Treasurer's Office cashier, was sentenced to 12 years and ordered her to pay $607,516 in restitution for two counts of aggravated first-degree theft, a single count of money-laundering and 19 counts of filing false or fraudulent tax returns on behalf of the county.
It is the largest amount of restitution ever assigned to the county's 8-year-old pay-or-appear program.
According to her attorney, the 47-year-old woman has at least two severe diseases, including cancer. With Betts sitting in a wheelchair, a Superior Court jury found Betts guilty of stealing between $617,467 and $793,595 in real estate excise tax proceeds between June 2003 and May 2009 from a single cash drawer.
Betts has severe diabetes and nerve damage to her leg but that is no excuse for her behavior. Betts also has breast cancer, according to a doctor's statement contained in court records.
Betts, who admitted only that she stole a check for $877 from the Treasurer's Office cash drawer. Betts has never said what happened to the money and authorities have never determined the fate of the funds.
Betts hid the thefts by recording false check amounts in office records, altering and destroying documents, manipulating office computer spreadsheets, creating hidden passwords and falsifying county records that the Treasurer's Office submitted to the state Department of Revenue.
The restitution Betts was ordered to pay is based on the $597,516 that the county's insurance company determined was stolen and an additional $10,000 deductible the county paid on its policy to get reimbursed.
The “aggravating circumstances” of Betts' crimes prompted Taylor to impose 10 years for two first-degree theft convictions and one year each for money laundering and filing false tax returns.