Former Alpha clerk Tommie McCarthy also must pay $174,000 restitution
IRON CO. CIRCUIT COURT -- After more than a year of investigations and court proceedings, former Alpha clerk Tommie McCarthy will be heading to prison.
On Monday, McCarthy was sentenced to a minimum of one year and one day in prison and must pay $174,000 in restitution for embezzlement and the personal use of public funds.
McCarthy's sentence guarantees he will serve his time in a state prison and not in the county jail.
He claims he used the money to help the community by putting on events like the Halloween haunted house. But that argument didn't hold water for prosecutor Melissa Powell Weston.
"Mr. McCarthy portrays himself as a modern day Robin Hood who stole from the village to give back to the people of the village,” said Weston. “The bottom line is, your honor, he stole money that didn't belong to him."
McCarthy addressed the court today for more than 10 minutes apologizing for his actions and pleading with the judge to be sent to county jail so he can be close to his children.
"I had the world--I had a good job, my wife had a good job,” said McCarthy. “We struggled like anybody else, but we were making it. I threw that all away."
In the end, Judge C. Joseph Schwedler sentenced McCarthy to a year in prison and ordered him to pay $174,000 to the Village of Alpha. He said regardless of McCarthy's intentions, he stole the money.
"We're talking about you methodically stealing money over and over and over again,” said Schwedler, “doing over and over what a thief does."
TV Station Profiles & Public Inspection Files forWLUC