Saturday, January 9, 2010

Haley: Lock up the Doc

An MDOC employee stole nearly one hundred thousand smackers:
"The former chief medical officer for the Mississippi Department of Corrections may be headed to house arrest instead of prison after embezzling $94,745 from the department. Kentrell Liddell, 35, of Jackson pleaded guilty last month to 13 counts of embezzlement and was sentenced to 10 years in prison with eight years suspended.
Hinds County Circuit Judge Malcolm Harrison also ordered Liddell to pay $94,745 in restitution and a $5,000 fine to the Victims Compensation Fund. She will serve five years on probation after her release."

Unfortunately, it appears the state is going to place the Hippocratic thief under house arrest:
"Liddell reported Monday to the Hinds County Detention Center as ordered. But MDOC has yet to decide what to do about Liddell's sentencing....
"She qualifies for house arrest," MDOC Commissioner Christopher Epps said Thursday. "We won't treat her any different than anyone else. Everybody is looked at for house arrest."
With a sentence of two years, Liddell would be eligible for release in 10 months, Epps said.
The Intense Supervision Program, commonly referred to as house arrest, is for nonviolent offenders who are within 15 months of their earliest release date...

Epps, who hired Liddell as medical director for MDOC, said it would make sense to have Liddell on house arrest rather than incarcerated at Central Mississippi Correctional Facility in Pearl.
"She is no danger to the community or a threat," Epps said.
Liddell's safety would be a concern at the prison where she used to work, Epps said."We would have to have her in protective custody; she would be in lock down 23 hours a day," Epps said..."

The issue, Mr. Epps, is not whether she is a danger or threat, but the fact she was convicted of STEALING NEARLY $100,000. Mr. Epps' statement shows one of the main problems in Mississippi: everyone wants to lock up the guy who steals $500 by breaking into a house, and then throw away the key, while looking the other way when it's one of their own who stole $100,000 with the stroke of a pen. The wayward doctor should have received more than two years in the first place and the fact Judge Harrison handed out this light sentence is troubling in and of itself.

There is simply no way this criminal should not spend more time in jail. If Mr. Epps wants to place her under house arrest, then place her under house arrest but in a halfway house or something similar in the Delta, where there is a true need for her medical expertise. That's right, stick her thieving ass in a halfway house in Tchula or Anguila and make her care for the poor all day long and then go back to the same room every single night where someone is telling her what to do. No friends can come visit. No comfortable surroundings. No living in the big city. No restaurants, nightclubs, bookstores, or anything else to do for more than a few miles.

Steal $100,000 and stay at home for nearly a year? Good gig if you can get it. Mr. Epps should lock her up and stop applying a different standard to white-collar criminals.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

KF,

Don't you think that her race and sex are the reasons she was given such a break? To me, this is just as bad as a certain someone with a ton of money getting house arrest after a car crash. Kinda makes you think the "system" is broken.

My three cents

Kingfish said...

No. One has been CONVICTED. Unlike some of you, I believe in due process whether it be the government trying to bust down your door without a warrant or a lynch mob trying to crucify someone who hasn't even had a trial.

Anonymous said...

she can't practice medicine while in jail.

Kingfish said...

Big deal. I want her in jail. Now if Epps is going to look out for his former employee, then I think he should take the route I suggested and stick her in the middle of nowhere serving those that need help but for stealing 100 grand, her ass needs to be in jail.

Anonymous said...

One more gets a "pass". Just like the sports "heroes" society worhips.

Lets see what the courts do to the Trustmark girl who got caught embezzling.

Anonymous said...

She needs to be in jail, but she can't practice medicine or even give a dog an enema while a prisoner. Just sayin...

Anonymous said...

I noticed part of the sentence is restitution. If she can practice medicine, she can start to pay what she embezzled. If she doesn't, I would expect her to be violated.
I don't mind house arrest for a non-violent criminal for all the practical reasons ...or I didn't mind it until I saw how house arrest is working for those charged with depraved heart MURDER!
Embezzlers tend to be people who have badly managed their personal finances and are tempted by access to money not their own and delude themselves they can replace it before being discovered.
One of the questions that SHOULD have been asked in this case was HOW she was able to embezzle that much before getting caught. It SCREAMS a lack of adequate controls in the system.

Anonymous said...

I would like to return to the time when locking someone up,be it jail or a mental institution, was about PROTECTING the community and/or punishment and not the misguided notions of rehabilitation.
But then I also wish for judges to legal scholars with common sense and not the guys who couldn't make a living at practicing law but who were adept at brown nosing politicians or telling people what they want to hear.

Kingfish said...

I consider embezzling to be thievery. Usually the amounts are larger than what is stolen by a common thief but because it is usually committed by professionals and not a thug, well, we tend to go easier on them, don't we?

Her ass needs to be in jail. Period. I'm all for rehab and in that I tend to agree with Charles Colson. I don't believe in always locking them up and throwing away the key but come one, this is nearly one hundred thousand dollars. She needs to be in jail. If it were me, she would be going to jail for at least five years but unfortunately, I'm not the judge.

Anonymous said...

What about the people who extorted a few thousand from the residents at the nursing home in Belhaven? I'm sure the devil was even caught off guard by that one.

There should be a law that triples the punishment for such offenders.

One was a social worker. So sad.

Anonymous said...

I love humanity. I just can't stand people. Sigh...
But I agree. Jail her, make her work off that time doing medical "chores" if the need calls for, like emptying bedpans.

Anonymous said...

According to a comment on the C-L article on this (consider the source and all that) she has sold her house and made restitution. Given the terrible state of the state's finances, and the huge difference in the cost to the state (i.e., us taxpayers) for house arrest vs incarceration, I wouldn't object to house arrest after at least some hard time on the insides of the bars (e.g., 90 days). On a personal level I am much more concerned about someone breaking into my home looking to steal a TV while my kids are there than someone kiting checks from an office drawer (it's the potential for violence and a sense of violation of personal space. I agree she could be let out during the day to provide ace in the Delta unless her license gets yanked (as it should).

Kingfish said...

She needs some jail time. Sitting at home while under house arrest and if she gets a sugar daddy, then restitution don't mean squat? Nope. I want her to see a cell even if for 90 days.

Anonymous said...

I know Dr. Lidell personally and while I am just learning of the charges against her I can honestly say that something must have been stressing her out on the home front for her to even consider what she did.
Believe me if she is the woman I know her to be she will pay back every penny she took.

Just my two cents.



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