The former director of the Tonganoxie (Kans.) Public Library must pay $21,702 in restitution after being convicted of misuse of public funds, Leavenworth County District Judge Frederick Stewart ruled March 12. If she does not maintain a repayment schedule during her 18-month probation, Beckie Borella faces an eight-month prison sentence.
Charges were filed against Borella in June 2003, and she pleaded no contest four months later to using library funds for personal purchases. However, because there was a discrepancy between the $700 in library funds Borella admitted to having diverted from the library’s revenue and the amount estimated by authorities, Leavenworth accountant Steve Wagner was retained by the library to audit TPL expenditures from January 1, 2001, to April 5, 2003. Wagner’s report turned up $19,887 in suspicious transactions, including nearly $7,000 in purchases made with the library’s credit card.
Borella, who served as Tonganoxie director for six years, was also instructed to repay Wagner’s $1,825 audit fee to the library, as well as court costs and attorneys’ fees.
Posted March 19, 2004.