Jody O’Hara
Stone County Enterprise
Drugs and cars.
That was the best Tina Owens Gillespie could come up with as a reason to embezzle more than $400,000 from her fellow citizens.
“I spent it,’ she replied to Circuit Court Judge Lawrence Bourgeois, Jr.’s question as to where the money was. “I had a prescription drug problem and then it escalated into a lifestyle.”
Gillespie pleaded guilty Monday to one count of embezzlement in connection with a scheme which began in September, 2010 and didn’t end until she was caught in December, 2012.
She had served as the Executive Secretary of the Stone County Economic Development Partnership during the time she stole the money.
She had faced five counts of the same crime.
She admitted to forging signatures and cashing checks, ultimately defrauding the SCEDP of $414,795.08.
Assistant District Attorney Matthew Burrell said that in addition to the drugs, Gillespie had taken trips and purchased vehicles.
Asked what she had to say for herself, Gillespie apologized to the citizens and the SCEDP Board of Directors.
“Are you sorry you did it; or that you got caught?” Bourgeois asked.
She replied that she was actually glad she got caught.
“How are you going to pay the good, lawful citizens back the $400,000?” the judge asked.
She replied that she did not know.
On behalf of the state, Burrell acknowledged the guilty plea and recommended a sentence of 20 years, with 12 years suspended and eight years to serve. The request included five years of supervised probation after Gillespie’s release.
In addition, he asked for restitution in the full amount which was embezzled but declined to ask for a fine.
He did, however, stipulate that Gillespie provide truthful testimony against former SCEDP Executive Director Jay Paul Gumm, who has also been charged in connection with the embezzlement.
He will make a court appearance in January, 2015.
Bourgeois went with that recommendation, but added a $2,000 fine and ordered Gillespie to pay $300 to the state victims’ compensation fund.
She must begin paying $500 a month once she is released from Mississippi Department of Corrections custody.
At that rate, it would take Gillespie more than 69 years to repay the amount she stole.
Under new guidelines which went into effect July 1, Gillespie must serve 25 percent of her sentence, or two years, before she is eligible for parole.
