Alabama A.G. King Announces Two 20-Year Sentences For Felony Ethics Conviction And Theft Of More Than $120,000

September 20, 2007 -- (MONTGOMERY) — Alabama Attorney General Troy King announced that a former DHR employee today was sentenced to two 20-year prison sentences for misusing her public position and stealing more than $120,000 in welfare benefits. Yvette Wilson of Huntsville pleaded guilty yesterday in Madison County Circuit Court to a felony ethics violation and to first-degree theft.

The Attorney General's Office presented information in court about Wilson's crimes, to which she admitted: As a former financial support worker for the J.O.B.S. program of Madison County Department of Human Resources, Wilson was involved in distribution of welfare benefits to recipients. Wilson created two false welfare recipient accounts and used these to funnel state and federal welfare funds to electronic benefit transfer (EBT) cards. Wilson took these cards to local automatic teller machines, making more than 200 separate withdrawals over a 2 year period totaling more than $120,000.

The Court ordered Wilson to pay full restitution to the State of Alabama. A hearing is scheduled for November 16 for the Court to consider Wilson's request to have a portion of her sentence suspended and placed on probation.

"Yvette Wilson has earned a severe penalty for betraying her public position, where she was entrusted with handling funds to care for the neediest among us. By robbing our state's scarce resources, every dollar she took was ultimately taken away from a needy child or elderly person," said Attorney General King. "The strong sentence imposed in this case is a message that if you break the ethics law and raid the public treasury in Alabama, my office will prosecute you and you will pay a high price for your crimes."

Attorney General King commended Assistant Attorneys General Stephanie Billingslea and Ben Baxley of his Public Corruption and White Collar Crime Division; Ferris Stephens, chief of his Welfare Fraud Unit; Josh Bearden of the Attorney General's Family Protection Unit; Alan Nummy, Attorney General's Computer Services Chief; and the Attorney General's Investigations Division, for their outstanding work. He also thanked the Madison County Department of Human Resources for its assistance, and others who helped to bring this case to a successful conclusion, including Judith Hodge, a security officer for Colonial Bank in Huntsville, and Marilyn Irons, a loss prevention officer for Target in Huntsville.

Source: Alabama Attorney General

Bookmark/Search this post with:

 •    •    •    •    •    •    •    •    •    •    •    •