District Attorney Employee Gets Prison For Forgery, Ethics Violation

May 10, 2012

A former worthless check coordinator for the Escambia County (Ala.) District Attorney’s office has been sentenced for felony ethics and second degree forgery convictions. Monica Lynn Watson pleaded guilty on April 16, just before her trial was set to begin.

For each of the two counts, Watson was sentenced concurrently to six years. Her sentence was split to serve 24 months which will follow a six-month probationary period. She was also ordered to perform 300 hours of community service and to pay a fine of $1,500 along with the costs of court. A review hearing is scheduled for November 13.

Watson pleaded guilty to the intentional misuse of her public position for unlawful personal gain through the mishandling of funds in the worthless check unit and to second-degree forgery of a motion that purported to be signed by the District Attorney for the dismissal of a case against a defendant.

“This case involves extensive documentation from the Examiners of Public Accounts of misuse of funds totaling $10,259,” said Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange. “It is important that this defendant is being held to account and punished for her crimes for betraying the public trust and abusing government funds.”

Charges against Watson arose from information in an audit of the Escambia County (Ala.) District Attorney’s Office conducted in 2008 by the Examiners of Public Accounts, covering the period of September 1, 2006, to May 31, 2008. Discrepancies in funds of the Worthless Check Unit (WCU) led to further inquiries, which uncovered money orders that had been received by the District Attorney’s Office but not receipted in the WCU.

It was discovered that two money orders had been deposited into Watson’s credit union account. Furthermore, there was no record in WCU records for certain people who had paid cash to and had handwritten receipts from Watson, but the receipts were logged in under someone else’s name. The Examiners’ audit also cites Watson for filing motions to dismiss cases saying that those defendants had paid all money they owed when they had not, and that the motions were stamped with the District Attorney’s name. According to the audit, $10,259 was stolen from the WCU, which Watson initially refused but later repaid.

Watson faced a potential penalty of two to 20 years imprisonment for the ethics violation, which is a class B felony, and one to 10 years for second-degree forgery, a class C felony.

Comments

5 Responses to “District Attorney Employee Gets Prison For Forgery, Ethics Violation”

  1. billy bob on May 10th, 2012 1:52 pm

    The way a reverse split will work, the Court will review the matter prior to the end of the six months. IF…..the defendant has complied with the terms of probation, paid restitution, done community service, etc…..then probation will be extended.

    Don’t expect her to serve one day unless she fails to comply with the court orders or commits a new crime. Don’t get lost in the legalese. She’s not gonna serve 24 months. A reverse split sounds tougher than it is. In theory the Court could reject the deal and order her to serve the 24 months…….though highly unlikely.

  2. William on May 10th, 2012 9:02 am

    “Bogus” wrote: “SENTENCE REPORTED IS INCORRECT. NEED TO RE CHECK SENTENCING. (SHE GOT 6 YEARS PROBATION AND NO PRISON TIME)

    Not according to Alabama’s Attorney General. This is a directly copy and paste from his office:

    Her sentence was split to serve 24 months which will follow a six-month probationary period.

  3. BOGUS on May 10th, 2012 8:39 am

    SENTENCE REPORTED IS INCORRECT. NEED TO RE CHECK SENTENCING. (SHE GOT 6 YEARS PROBATION AND NO PRISON TIME)

  4. JM on May 10th, 2012 7:52 am

    She lost a good job on top of all she will have to pay. We better not find out she
    gets unemployment. Arrgh!

  5. 429SCJ on May 10th, 2012 4:28 am

    Poor MS Watson, she rose to her level of incompetence, which fortunately for her
    was not too high, considering the sentence.

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News