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Court Finds Former Ocmulgee Director GuiltyJurors returned a verdict of guilty October 7 in all six counts against David C. Wilson, former director of the Ocmulgee Regional Library System in Eastman, Georgia, who faced charges in federal district court of theft and witness tampering, the Savannah Morning News reported October 8.Wilson’s withdrawal of $5,000 from a bank account belonging to an ORLS member library in Cochran triggered an investigation by the FBI and Georgia Bureau of Investigation that led to his abrupt retirement in May 2004 and his indictment in March 2005. “We think this is unfortunate,” Wilson’s attorney Page Pate told reporters. “We think there was insufficient evidence and we plan to appeal several counts.” According to the October 8 Macon Telegraph, prosecutors suffered a setback October 6 when U.S. District Court Judge Dudley Bowen ruled that checks Wilson wrote to himself from accounts belonging to ORLS member libraries could not be considered as direct evidence. Bowen said the prosecution’s indictment specified thefts from accounts “owned and operated” by the regional system, which limited the charges to the regional system’s own account. However, jurors were persuaded by the prosecution’s contention that Wilson had stolen in excess of $5,000 from the ORLS account in each of the years from 2000 to 2004. Present and former ORLS trustees testified that they had never voted for any of the five salary supplements that had boosted Wilson’s salary to more than $155,000. State Librarian Lamar Veatch, who also provided testimony during the trial, told the Morning News that he would look into the circumstances “surrounding this unfortunate situation to determine whether changes in state policy may be needed to ensure that nothing like it happens again.” Wilson faces a prison sentence of up to 10 years and a fine of up to $250,000 on each count. He remains free without cash bond until sentencing. Posted October 14, 2005. |
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