CLEARFIELD – A Morrisdale woman will be spending time in jail for taking over $19,000 from a school band booster group.
Kori Sue Plotner, 39, pleaded guilty during sentencing court Tuesday to a misdemeanor count of theft by unlawful taking.
President Judge Fredric J. Ammerman sentenced her to serve 60 days to one year in jail and one year consecutive probation. She was fined $200 plus costs. Prior to sentencing, she paid $19,108 in restitution.
Her attorney, John Sughrue, noted this was an open plea and he understood that the commonwealth was going to remain silent about the sentence because they were satisfied with probation in this case.
When District Attorney William A. Shaw Jr. was questioned about this, he responded that the plea agreement dropped the charge from a felony to a misdemeanor. He said he was OK with Sughrue asking the judge for probation, but he would prefer she serve 90 days in jail.
Assistant District Attorney Ben Baker also stated he would like to have her do some jail time, adding this case was the same as an employee theft case that often receives a 90-day sentence.
After he announced the sentence, Ammerman commented that he imposed the 60-day sentence because of the nature of the thefts.
A representative from the band boosters addressed the court, explaining how hard it is to raise money. She hoped that things could turn around for Plotner.
Ammerman asked if the students had to cut activities because of the theft. The representative said they were going to go to Disney World last year but weren’t able to do it. They are going to make the trip this school year.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, other members of the group became suspicious of Plotner, who was the treasurer for the music boosters club in October of 2015.
At a meeting Oct. 13, 2015, Plotner stated the balance of their checking account was $13,391.59, then changed it to $14,343.41 and then up to $16,893.
When they checked the account, it had a balance of only $3,266.86. Normally by that time of the year, the account had close to $20,000 in it.
Usually they are able to raise about $35,000 in two years to fund the trip for all band members, the complaint said.
The reports submitted by Plotner to the group officers on a monthly basis conflicted with the reports Plotner gave to the bank.
When Plotner was interviewed by police, she admitted that she did take funds from the club, but she wasn’t sure how much she actually had taken. She stated she believed she started taking money in September of 2014 during football season.
