Sentencing set for Mitchener

A Roachdale woman accused of stealing more than $56,000 from the special education cooperative where she was employed as a treasurer will be sentenced on July 23.

Tammy Y. Mitchener, 33, plead guilty Thursday to Class C felony corrupt business influence and Class D felony. Under the terms of a plea agreement presented to Putnam County Circuit Court Judge Matthew Headley, a charge of Class D felony official misconduct and four charges of Class C felony forgery would be dismissed in exchange for Mitchener's guilty plea to the two felonies. Headley took the agreement under advisement.

Since Mitchener's crimes are non-violent in nature, the maximum sentence she could receive is 10 years.

Court records said Mitchener wrote $56,639.19 worth of checks from the ONT account to a vendor called PC Technologies -- which turned out to be a dummy corporation she set up and opened a bank account for. Mitchener allegedly deposited the checks she wrote into the PC Technologies account and then moved the money into her personal account, which was at a different bank, using online banking services.

Mitchener committed the crimes between Feb. 24, 2008 and Oct. 31, 2008, court records said.

In addition to the checks she allegedly wrote to herself, an audit done by the Indiana State Board of Accounts showed that ONT lost more than $52,000 in penalties and interest paid to the Internal Revenue Service and the Indiana Department of Revenue due to Mitchener's negligence.

Mitchener was arrested on Dec. 2. She posted 10 percent of a $10,000 bond and was released from jail that day.

Mitchener is accused of committing the crimes she is charged with between Feb. 24, 2008 and Oct. 31, 2008, court documents said.