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Cloverdale man arrested at place of employment

Monday, March 2, 2009
By IVY JACKSON, for the Banner Graphic

(Photo)
A Cloverdale man was arrested at his place of employment in Putnam County and charged by the Indiana State Police with seven counts of theft from a Brazil business Monday afternoon.

ISP Det. Sam Stearley, of the Terre Haute Post, charged Rick R. Sutherland, 45, with seven felony counts of theft from National Printing Converters, Brazil.

According to information provided by an ISP press release, in January 2008 ISP detectives began an investigation into illegal use of a company credit card at the request of the Brazil City Police.

According to ISP detectives, Sutherland was employed with the company for approximately 20 years, working his way up to being a member of the management team. Investigators reported that as part of the management team, Sutherland was issued a company credit card.

During the course of the investigation, Stearley and ISP Det. Chris Carter discovered Sutherland allegedly made unauthorized transactions totaling over $110,000 dollars in a four-year period from 2004.

On Monday, Sutherland was arrested without incident and transported to the Clay County Justice Center, where he is being held on a $7,000 cash bond. The Clay County Prosecutor's Office reviewed the ISP case report and filed seven counts of theft against Sutherland.

If convicted, officials confirmed Sutherland could receive six months to three years in prison and a maximum $10,000 fine for each class D felony theft charge.

Jail officials confirmed Sutherland remains incarcerated awaiting further court proceedings.

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It will be interesting to see how this plays out in Clay County.

-- Posted by mad-mom on Tue, Mar 3, 2009, at 6:00 AM

The arguement will be that these were not thefts. This man simply created unauthorized debt. Why not just keep him working and garnish half his wages until the debt is paid? That would pay it back faster than he charged it up.

-- Posted by Xgamer on Tue, Mar 3, 2009, at 6:22 AM

I don't know why the title didn't read like this "Putnam County Fairgrounds Executive Board member arrested at place of employment"????

-- Posted by Greencastle watcher on Tue, Mar 3, 2009, at 8:24 AM

Unless the man signed some sort of contract stating what the card would be used for, I would certainly think a competent lawyer could get these charges thrown out. It's no different than someone being an authorized user and someone elses card and charging it up.

-- Posted by UMad on Tue, Mar 3, 2009, at 11:11 AM

this guy is a computer consultant for South Putnam Schools also!

-- Posted by bakermom on Tue, Mar 3, 2009, at 11:37 AM

What he did was wrong, but I think the company bears a liitle bit of the blame. If you issue someone a company credit card it should be monitored monthly and receipts should have to be turned in. This way you would be aware of any suspicious charges. This went on for four years! Wake up employers! Shame on you Mr. Sutherland, and shame on you employer for not monitoring your employees better. There are individuals out there that will take advantage of you if you are not paying attention.

-- Posted by letmegetbacktoya on Tue, Mar 3, 2009, at 6:14 PM

Unfortunately, "his place of employment" is South Putnam High School. Nice example all the way around.

-- Posted by Balding Eagle on Wed, Mar 4, 2009, at 6:31 PM

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