Published: July 18, 2008 10:02 pm         

Man guilty of embezzlement to serve 30 days in jail

A 27-year-old Raleigh County man must serve 30 days in jail for embezzling more than $16,000 from his employer, a judge ruled Friday during a sentencing hearing.

Christopher Wallace admitted in February to taking the money from the Shell station in Daniels where he worked as a manager.

According to court testimony, Wallace failed to make bank deposits on six separate occasions in February and March 2006.

Wallace asked Circuit Judge Robert Burnside for probation with no jail time so he could continue to work to pay restitution and to care for his family.

“My wife is in very poor health and I take care of our two children,” Wallace told the judge. “If I go to jail, it would be devastating to my family.”

Wallace added he was sorry for what he did and that he had learned from his mistakes.

“The hardest thing I had to do was explain to my 6-year-old son that I messed up and might not be coming home for a while,” he said.

Wallace told the judge he used the money to “pay bills.” He said he also used some of the money for clothes for his children and to help with his sister’s children when she was having surgery.

“I apologize for what I have done,” he said. “It was wrong.”

Burnside denied Wallace’s request for probation with no jail time because of his past criminal history. Wallace was found guilty of a misdemeanor fraud scheme charge in 2000 in connection with writing 13 worthless checks.

“You were given probation on that charge and it appears it had no impact,” Burnside said. “Here you go doing it again. Probation didn’t work for you.”

Burnside sentenced Wallace to one to three years in jail, but then suspended it, and ordered five years probation after Wallace serves 30 days in jail.

He gave Wallace until Tuesday to take care of family matters before self-reporting to jail.

“This is not much jail time considering what you did,” the judge said. “This is something you have brought upon yourself and your family.”

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