Former Franklin DA employee convicted

By Staff
Yesterday, Attorney General Troy King announced the conviction of Sandra Hester, former coordinator of the Franklin County District Attorney's worthless check unit, for a felony ethics violation.
Hester, 47, pleaded guilty this afternoon to a charge that she used her public position for unlawful personal gain. Sentencing is set for 9 a.m. on June 7 at the Lauderdale County Courthouse.
"This case was particularly troubling because the defendant was employed by the Franklin County District Attorney's Office, a front-line law enforcement agency, responsible for upholding and enforcing the law," King said. "Her crime is a betrayal of the citizens of Franklin County, as well as her employer."
An audit by the Alabama Examiners of Public Accounts found that $42,603 had been collected but was not deposited into the bank account for the Franklin County District Attorney's Worthless Check Unit.
The audit report noted that the money appeared to have been converted to Hester's personal use through a scheme of lapping deposits.
"In a lapping scheme, cash is taken from deposits and made up with receipts collected at a later date. Collections were deposited up to two months from the date received. Also, payments other than cash were not in the corresponding receipt batch in which they were received and were deposited on a different date. This indicates that lapping of deposits is occurring," according to the Examiners' audit report of December 10, 2004, which covered the time period of September 1, 2002, through June 30, 2004 under then Franklin County District Attorney John Pilati.
Pilati is not named in the case.
The Examiners of Public Accounts referred its findings to the Attorney General's Office.
The matter was investigated by the Attorney General's Investigations Division and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and prosecuted by Assistant Attorney General W. Brent Woodall of Attorney General King's Public Corruption and White Collar Crime Division.
The case was prosecuted in Franklin County Circuit Court, but was assigned to a judge outside of the county and today's hearing took place in the courtroom of Lauderdale County Circuit Judge Mike Jones.
– from staff and wire reports