Fenwick files motion to change service of commitment
GREENCASTLE -- A Greencastle woman currently serving a 10-year prison sentence for stealing more than $350,000 from a local Methodist church has filed a motion to change service of commitment.
Melynda J. Fenwick, 37, was convicted on Nov. 23 with six counts of Class C felony forgery and six counts of Class D felony theft. The charges were in connection with incidents in which she took money from and made unauthorized credit card charges on accounts belonging to Gobin Memorial United Methodist Church in Greencastle, where she was employed as an administrative financial secretary.
The state has filed an objection to Fenwick's motion.
"I understand this does not necessarily reduce or suspend my sentence, but changes the place I serve my sentence," Fenwick wrote in a letter to Putnam County Circuit Court Judge Matthew Headley.
Putnam County Prosecutor Timothy Bookwalter said at the time Fenwick filed the motion, she had only served 3 percent of her sentence.
"To modify a sentence after only serving 3 percent of it makes a mockery of the criminal justice system," Bookwalter said.
Fenwick goes on in the letter to point out that her crime was non-violent, and that "I feel my threat to the community is minimal."
Bookwalter disagreed.
"The evidence presented at sentencing contradicts that statement and shows that her lengthy patterns of theft at two previous employers makes her a threat to this community," he said.
She has asked Headley to allow her to serve the rest of her sentence on house arrest through Putnam County Community Corrections.
"I am also asking for a change of commitment to ease the hardship of incarceration that has been placed on my family and dependent children," Fenwick wrote.
Fenwick said she would like to work with pregnant and troubled teens "that have potential to have criminal behavior."
Fenwick said she was anxious to secure employment and begin doing community service. She also said prison officials at Rockville Correctional Facility, where she is serving her sentence, decided she did not need a medical device Fenwick had been using after being diagnosed with sleep apnea.
"I am very concerned with the effect this may have on my future medical condition because sleep apnea can be life-threatening," she wrote.
After she is released from prison, Fenwick will spend five years on probation.
Gobin currently has a civil suit pending against Fenwick. She worked at the church from late 2004 until she was arrested on Aug. 11, 2009.
"I do not fully agree with the amount that they are accusing me (of stealing), which I stated at my sentence hearing," Fenwick wrote. "If the change of commitment is allowed, I could be present at the trial, due to the fact that the Department of Corrections does not transport for civil cases."
Headley has taken Fenwick's motion and the state's objection under advisement.