According to former Corbin Preschool Center bookkeeper Donna Logan, she took nearly $42,000 from the center from a fund meant to help children in order to buy things for her three children.
When Whitley Circuit Judge Dan Ballou inquired about why she took the money, Logan replied, "I wanted it for my children. I know that is not right."
Logan left the courtroom in tears Monday afternoon as a bailiff took her to the Whitley County Detention Center to begin serving her sentence.
Following vigorous debate between the prosecutor and the defense attorney over whether she should receive probation, Ballou sentenced Logan, 36, to 10 years in prison and ordered her to pay $7,220 in restitution.
"If I have ever seen the poster child for probation, she is it," defense attorney Warren Scoville told the judge while arguing for probation.
"Here is a woman with no criminal record. This woman made a horrible decision to take the money. She made a stupid decision."
Scoville noted while Logan was getting a 10-year sentence that there are people that get only three years for sexual abuse.
He argued that the only way for her to make restitution is to work. Until Monday, she was making $24,000 a year as an office worker in London. She said that her employer knew everything about her legal problems.
Scoville said that Logan and her husband couldn’t borrow the money to pay the restitution because of financial problems and that they were about to lose their house.
Commonwealth’s Attorney Allen Trimble argued that a 10-year prison sentence isn’t unfair for what Logan did.
"Your honor, she stole from kids and stole for an extended period of time," Trimble said. "She did it knowingly."
Trimble asked what kind of message granting Logan probation would send to others.
He said it would tell school system employees that they had a free shot at committing theft and not having to worry about serving time in prison if they had no prior criminal record.
"The school system wants to see her punished. In today’s times, a 10-year sentence means she will serve 18 months before she is eligible for parole," he said.
Trimble said there was another account at the preschool where parent’s money for tuition and certain programs was deposited.
He said a significant amount of funds were taken from that account, but that there is no way to prove who did it.
"This is very difficult. I agree with Mr. Scoville and Mr. Trimble. Both have good points," Ballou noted.
Some cases are easy, such as when someone is a danger to society.
In the case of someone like Logan, Ballou said that it is a little more complicated.
If she lived next door to him, Ballou noted that while he wouldn’t trust Logan with his checkbook, he wouldn’t be afraid that she would hurt his kids either.
Scoville noted that he plans to file a motion asking for shock probation after Logan serves 30 days in jail. Trimble said he plans to oppose such a motion.
Shock probation is designed for non-violent, first-time offenders, who are allowed to request it after serving 30 to 90 days in jail or prison.
The idea is that serving that amount of time and getting a taste of prison will shock them into not committing another crime again.
Logan allegedly stole the money from an account entitled Parents for Play, in which parents of children that attended the Corbin Preschool Center would donate money for projects or events at the school. Initially, the account was used for the purchase and installation of playground equipment at the school. The playground was completed in the fall of 2005, but money remained in the account and it was used to purchase school supplies and other items.
Marr, Miller and Myers, an accounting firm in Corbin, found discrepancies in the account and school officials closed the account last August after an audit was performed.
Preschool officials were first alerted to the alleged theft when a security officer from Cumberland Valley National Bank brought them some suspicious checks cashed on the account at the bank.
Because the checks were cashed at area banks throughout the Tri-County area, Logan had faced theft related charges in Knox, Laurel and Whitley counties.
Her sentences in the other counties were ordered to run concurrent or at the same time as her Whitley County sentence.
Scoville noted that prosecutors in those counties had no objections to his client getting shock probation.
Trimble said that is because Logan’s Whitley County sentence called for her to receive a 10-year prison sentence.
