Former Clatskanie school employee sentenced on embezzlement charges
Friday, October 17, 2008 11:34 PM PDT
By Barbara LaBoe
Printable version
E-mail this articleThe former business manager for the Clatskanie School District must spend two months in jail and pay nearly $82,000 in restitution for money she embezzled and the penalties the district incurred because of her actions.
Tory Brixey on Tuesday pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree theft, one count of first-degree forgery and one count of official misconduct. She was sentenced at the same hearing.
Brixey must turn herself in to authorities on Monday to begin the two-month jail sentence, said Dale Anderson, assistant district attorney for Columbia County.
She also paid a little more than half of the money she owes the district, bringing $42,011 to her sentencing hearing. She’ll pay the rest of the $39,889 in monthly payments, which currently are set at $50 because she’s unemployed, Anderson said.
Brixey also received two 13-month sentences, but both were suspended in favor of two years of probation. If Brixey violates probation, the sentences could be reinstated.
Brixey also was told by the judge to find a job so she can begin repaying the district. Anderson said he may bring her back to court if she remains unemployed because he wants to see the money repaid as soon as possible.
According to Anderson, Brixey stole about $34,500 from the district. In addition to that money, though, she also didn’t pay the district’s payroll taxes to federal and state agencies, meaning the district incurred fines and penalties of close to $300,000. Those penalties were eventually reduced to $35,800.
The remaining $11,600 of the $81,900 restitution is for the district’s expenses in researching and correcting Brixey’s actions, Anderson said.
“This was a huge headache for them,” Anderson said. “They’re just a little school district, and suddenly the IRS is standing there stomping its feet and saying, ‘We want $300,000 and we want it now.’ ”
The school district first placed Brixey on leave in April of 2007 and then fired her that same month after information about the district’s finances came to the attention of other administrators. In addition to the money Brixey embezzled, the district blamed Brixey for a $250,000 shortfall in the fall of 2007 because she had not budgeted the July payroll payments, among other bookkeeping problems.
Brixey, of Vernonia, was arrested in May of 2007 after the district forwarded the results of its investigation to law enforcement.
Anderson said the audit the school district did as result of Brixey’s case suggested several changes in how the district’s money is handled to prevent similar problems.
In addition to the 60-day jail sentence and restitution, Brixey also must advise all future employers of this case and is barred from taking any job that requires handling money, Anderson said. She must also submit all of her financial records to her probation officer upon request and isn’t allowed to make any financial transaction for more than $200 without her probation officer’s approval.
Related articles:
Clatskanie schools blame ex-clerk for deficit (Sept. 26, 2007)
Clatskanie fires school worker (April 14, 2007)
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