Brown receives 2-year sentence for humane shelter thefts

Ron Brown

Putnam Circuit Court Judge Matthew Headley could have sentenced the man who stole tens of thousands of dollars from the Putnam County Animal Shelter to time he'd already served on Monday, allowing him to walk free after nearly six months in jail.

Instead, in handing down a sentence to Ron Brown, 47, Indianapolis, Headley was a bit more creative.

With the prosecution and defense finally agreeing that Brown owes the county $27,546, Headley gave Brown 273 days in jail, or approximately one day for every $100 he stole.

"You stole 27,000 bucks from the county so you're going to do 273 days," Headley said.

More specifically, after entering a guilty plea to Level 6 felony theft, Brown was given a two-year sentence, with 545 days (approximately 18 months) executed and the final six months on probation.

With the state's 50-percent credit time for Level 6 felonies, the time served at the Putnam County Jail will come out to 273 days, thus the number at which the judge arrived.

Brown has remained in jail since his Sept. 4, arrest, meaning he has about 100 days yet to serve behind bars.

Headley also ordered that Brown repay $27,546 to the county in restitution.

This number had been in dispute previously, with prosecutors saying it should be around $33,000 and Brown saying the actual number was $18,500.

After discovering some bills Brown had paid on the shelter's behalf, the prosecution agreed to come down from its previous amount.

In order to get a good start on the repayment, Headley ordered that Indiana State Police Det. Dontonio Nibbs look into a Teachers Credit Union account that Brown claimed in court Monday should still have about $5,000.

Besides the repayment, Headley also ordered that a $75 probation transfer fee be taken from the account -- if there is any money. The purpose is to let Brown serve probation in his home county and to get him the out of Putnam County as soon as possible.

Headley explained that this order was "so that you don't have to come back to Putnam County because I don't think anyone really wants you here."

Prior to Headley's decision, Brown and defense attorney Sydney Tongret tried to establish him as someone with good intentions who simply got caught behind on his own finances.

Brown committed his crimes by representing himself as the project manager in charge of getting the shelter restarted. In fact, he had been contracted by the county only to seek grants for the project -- something county officials have said he never did.

Contractors working on the project submitted invoices to Brown, who in turn submitted his own invoices to the Putnam County Auditor.

His failure to remit payment to the contractors is what got him into trouble.

Brown said he knew he needed to repay the money.

"To the county (I plan to) pay that money back," Brown said. "I mentioned to the sheriff-elect (Scott Stockton) back in December 2014 that I was on the hook. And I told Det. Nibbs that I intended to make this right."

On cross-examination, Prosecutor Tim Bookwalter was having none of it, expressing serious doubt that any county money remained in Brown's possession, in the TCU account or elsewhere.

"You knew you didn't have the money," Bookwalter said. "You knew you'd already spent it."

The prosecutor took things a step further in establishing a history of deception by Brown.

Honing in on Brown's business, R. Brown Engineering, Bookwalter asked, "Where did you go to engineering school?"

Brown faltered before admitting that he lacked engineering training, but had vocational training in electrical and mechanical matters.

Asked why he then called his business "R. Brown Engineering," Brown said it was because he could hire engineers for clients.

Bookwalter painted a picture of a "con artist," which is the term detectives had used in Brown's 1991 forgery conviction and 1998 theft conviction.

Hearkening back to these convictions, Headley gave Brown a warning before he departed the courtroom, as he could be tagged with a habitual offender enhancement on any future cases.

"Word to the wise," Headley said, "follow the law."