The logic for not giving jail time to public officials who embezzle money makes sense: Let them work and pay back their dishonest gain rather than be a further drain by requiring the taxpayers to feed and house them in prison.
Yet too often in Mississippi those who dip their hands in the public till suffer not much more of a penalty than losing their job — and often move right onto another one where they again have oversight over funds.
For example, when Roger Liddell was principal of Simmons High School in Hollandale from 1996 to 2009, he bought more than $73,000 worth of electronic equipment for his personal use using school funds. He pleaded guilty and had a judgment against him but received a non-adjudicated sentence, whereby his felony conviction was erased after three years. Despite that well-publicized crime, he still managed to secure a promotion to become superintendent in Noxubee County. The folly of that decision became evident this year when the state had to take over that school district after the state Department of Education found it in violation of 81 percent of accreditation standards.
On a much smaller scale, a former Jefferson Middle School cafeteria manager is abusing the non-adjudication system. After embezzling more than $2,000 in 2014, Marqette Magee pleaded guilty last year and received a softball sentence: No jail time, a non-adjudicated sentence where his felony could be cleared after five years and only $50 per month restitution payments.
Yet even then he’s flaunted the law, not even making a single payment since being sentenced in September 2017, according to the state auditor’s office, which receives the payments for such restitution.
We disfavor the entire notion of non-adjudication. It holds that even if you plead guilty to a felony, it will be wiped from your record if you walk the straight and narrow for a few years of probation and pay back what you stole. But a record is a record; if you committed a felony, it’s history and part of who you are. Future potential employers and the public at large should be able to research that and then decide for themselves whether you’ve reformed.
Even if non-adjudication is used, its terms should be strictly enforced. Get a month behind on your payments and get tossed in jail. Do that a few times, and others will get the message. That will lead to both more restitution paid from convicted embezzlers and less public officials falling prey to the temptation to steal from the taxpayers in the first place.
The state auditor’s office generally does a good job of catching and prosecuting embezzlement. The courts need to step up and enforce the penalties.
— Charlie Smith
