Alexander back in court for lying to judge
Less than three months after pleading guilty to stealing thousands of dollars in federal grant money, the former ombudsman for the Putnam County Sheriff's Department now admits to lying to a Putnam County judge in a separate case.
George Alexander, who has yet to begin his 18-month federal prison sentence, appeared in Putnam Circuit Court Friday morning where he pleaded guilty to one county of perjury.
The charge stems from a November 2005 appearance in small claims court where Alexander was sued by a friend for failing to pay back $4,000 in borrowed money.
According to transcripts from the 2005 case, Alexander told Judge Robert Lowe: "I don't have any money to pay it … I'm disabled. I volunteer my time at the sheriff's office."
Despite his statement to the judge, Alexander was actually being paid $18,000 a year for his work at the sheriff's department.
This week, Alexander appeared back in court with his attorney Bill Marsh and pleaded guilty to one charge of perjury, a class D felony carrying a sentence range of six months to three years.
"He testified falsely," Marsh told the judge about Alexander.
Both Marsh and Putnam County Prosecutor Tim Bookwalter agreed to have Alexander immediately sentenced at Friday's hearing. The judge sentenced him to 180 days with the Indiana Dept. of Correction, to run concurrently with his 18-month federal sentence.
He also ordered Alexander to pay back the sum of $4,811 to the victim in his 2005 civil lawsuit -- this is in addition to the nearly $90,000 in federal money he was ordered to pay back early this month.
Bookwalter said he felt that despite the more serious federal charges against Alexander, he wanted to continue to push for the perjury charge to make a point that lying to a judge is a crime.