Woman gets 19 months for theft
From our weekly issue dated September 08, 2010
A former bookkeeper for the Illinois-Valley-based Forestry Action Committee (FAC) has been sentenced to 19 months in prison for stealing more than $80,000 from the non-profit organization.
Robin Wilson, 50, a former Cave Junction resident, was sentenced on Thursday, Aug. 19 by Circuit Court Judge Pat Wolke.
Wilson, who had worked for FAC for around eight years, was booked into the Josephine County Jail in Grants Pass on June 30 for identity theft, aggravated identity theft, first-degree forgery and two counts each of first-degree theft and aggravated first-degree theft.
As part of a deal with prosecutors, Wilson eventually plead guilty to aggravated first degree theft.
FAC Executive Director Susan Chapp was among those present at Wilson’s sentencing hearing and addressed the court as a victim in the case.
“I didn’t get what I asked for,” Chapp said after the hearing. “But I think that what I had to say had an impact.”
Chapp said that she wanted Wilson to be sentenced to a minimum of three years in prison. However, that was made unlikely by the fact that Wilson had no previous criminal record.
Wilson’s past actions continue to negatively impact FAC, Chapp said. The organization still owes a considerable sum of money to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), she said, and “foundations aren’t real hot to fund us at this moment.”
“It’s a big deal to the IRS, because, to them, we’re financially a mess,” Chapp said. “It’s made life really, really hard for us. We’re going on and doing our good work. We don’t want it to bring us down, but it has made life very hard.”
As part of her sentence, Wilson must pay around $84,000 in restitution to FAC.
“She’ll be stuck with that one for the rest of her life,” Chapp said.
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