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Judge sentences PTA mom four years in prison
By Stephanie Flemmons, Staff Writer
A former treasurer for a local Parent Teacher Association was found guilty of stealing about $80,000 from a Plano elementary school and was sentenced to four years in prison Friday.
Former Haggar Elementary PTA President Missy Slavin said on behalf of the school’s PTA they are glad the case is over.
“I think the sentence was befitting for her crime,” Slavin said. “This gives us closure.”
Payne’s attorney Jeremy Rosenthal said he believes the sentence was stiff and probation would have been appropriate.
“We argued everyone loses if Beth goes to jail,” Rosenthal said. “The children, teachers and parents lose the benefit of court-supervised restitution and this is obviously a severe hardship on the Payne family as well.”
Rosenthal said the Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure give 30 days to file a notice of appeal from the date of sentencing. He said he plans on the notice in the next few weeks.
“We feel we have some strong issues,” Rosenthal said. “I think the jury struggled with some of the serious questions we raised about the state’s case. We feel the state didn’t meet several elements of the case and that law enforcement sleepwalked through the investigation.”
JoAnn Tobey, who was the PTA secretary at the time, said Dry acknowledged the fact Payne wanted probation after her sentence was read, but stated he believed the school will never recover from the breach of trust she violated.
“In a non-profit and volunteer capacity there has to be a level of trust, but now there is a critical eye watching closely,” Tobey said. “I feel a little of my innocence was lost because I’m used to accepting people on faith values. I did this with Beth and what she did was a lie.”
Tobey said Dry told Payne he considered a stiffer sentence and hopes she will seek counseling while in prison because he believes her problems go deeper than this case.
Tobey said the Haggar PTA has changed the way they conduct the association and have a tighter checks and balances system in place.
“Our treasurer can’t sign checks now,” Tobey said. “When you’ve been burned, you have to protect yourself.”
In May 2006, a civil judge ordered Payne to pay the school $244,268, which tripled the damages the PTA faced.
According to Slavin, during the civil lawsuit, financial records revealed Payne wrote 59 checks to herself, totaling about $60,000.
In October 2005, Slavin said she noticed some inconsistencies and received phone calls from vendors and volunteers stating they were not getting their checks. Slavin said she believed there were some suspicious discrepancies and immediately demanded an audit.
Slavin asked Payne to submit all of her bank statements at the next board meeting for the 1.5 years she served as treasurer. She never showed for the meeting.
Payne submitted her letter of resignation the following week.
Contact Stephanie Flemmons at sflemmons@acnpapers.com
The following are comments from the readers.
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
KM wrote on Apr 24, 2009 10:05 PM:
" Justice was served... this was a serious crime. It took four years for our court system to deliver punishment for an $80,000 theft. I see no hardship on the Payne family... no one was at the sentencing to support the criminal, despite a husband and four kids living in TX! It is taking years to rebuild trust in our school and we will never see the funds repaid. The sentence was over due and fair. "
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