A month in the county jail and three years of probation was the penalty handed down Wednesday for a former Lynchburg village administrator who pled guilty to stealing nearly $14,000 from the village.
Judge Rocky Coss sentenced Tamara A. Pierre to three years of community control sanctions and 30 days in jail, ordering her to pay the county back for the cost of her incarceration.
Defense attorney J.D. Wagoner, who represented Pierre, said his client refinanced her home to pay full restitution to the village.
As previously reported, Pierre pled guilty two weeks ago to theft by deception following allegations that she stole from the village during her employment there between 2013 and 2015.
A bill of information filed by the Highland County Prosecutor’s Office on Nov. 19 of this year says that, “on or about the period of March 1, 2013 and continuing through June 30, 2015 and in Highland County, Ohio, Tamara A. Pierre did with purpose to deprive the owner, Village of Lynchburg, of their property, knowingly obtain or exert control over said property, to wit: $13,915.07 US currency, by deception … a felony of the fourth degree.”
During the hearing Wednesday, Pierre apologized to village officials and residents of the village.
“I sincerely apologize for my actions,” she said.
Lynchburg Mayor Terry Burden, who was present at the hearing, had prepared a victim impact statement, but was never asked to speak.
The statement, which Burden provided to The Times-Gazette, said Pierre “violated the trust of all citizens of the Village of Lynchburg.”
According to Burden’s statement, Pierre used the village’s Walmart and Lowe’s cards to purchase items for herself.
The mayor said the case “is not just about a simple theft.”
“It involves stealing from each and every citizen that lives within the village,” he said in his statement.
Burden said that Pierre admitted to destroying financial statements by burning them in her backyard, then forging new documents to replace those she burned.
“This case involves other crimes committed such as tampering of records/evidence and forgery,” the mayor’s statement alleged. “Council and I do not agree that someone in the position of trust should walk away with simply just paying the funds back that was stolen, but feel Tami should be held completely accountable for her own actions.”
Also Wednesday, Samantha R. Moermond, 29, was sentenced to one year in prison for failure to comply with the order or signal of a police officer, a third-degree felony. The sentence was ordered to be served consecutive to a Clermont County prison sentence.
Andrew M. Sanden, 21, was sentenced to nine months in prison consecutive to a sentence he is currently serving in Brown County. Sanden pled guilty to failure to register a change of address as a registered sex offender, a fourth-degree felony.
Reach David Wright at 937-402-2570.
