State Auditor Shad White issued the following statement.
State Auditor Shad White announced that Special Agents from his office have arrested Lacosta Lee, a contracted probation officer for Court Programs, Inc (CPI), on seven counts of embezzlement
Lee is accused of receiving court ordered fines and fees from those on probation and embezzling those funds for her own personal use. Lee was served with a $7,558.50 demand letter at the time of her arrest.
“The dedicated team at the State Auditor’s Office continues to work closely with prosecutors to get record results, one case at a time,” said State Auditor Shad White.
Lee faces up to $5,000 in fines and 20 years per count if convicted. All persons arrested by the Mississippi Office of the State Auditor are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
Suspected fraud can be reported to the Auditor’s office online at any time by clicking the red button at www.osa.ms.gov or calling 1-(800)-321-1275 during normal business hours.
Kingfish note: The amount embezzled was $3,215. The demand letter is posted below.
30 comments:
Thank you, Shad. Every penny stolen is taxpayer money and I appreciate your efforts to recover the funds.
What are these people thinking when they do this? There's always a trail to follow.
you see these types in municipal and justice courts all over mississippi.
they are NOT government employees.
they work for various private businesses that ''supervise'' persons who have been convicted of misdemeanor crimes, mainly dui and minor drug possession offenses, mostly marijana.
they charge a ''supervision'' fee each month. and of course that the first thing they ask for when you stop in for your monthly visit.
they are also fond of determining that the subject has a ''drug or alcohol problem'' and they are allowed to order a defendant to some sort of program which the defendant must pay for. then, guess what ? the ''program'' kicks money back to the ''supervisor''.
these business basically operate like detox clinics. once they have gotten as much money as they can out of the defendants , the defendants are suddenly cured.
the legislature badly need to put a stop to these businesses. they are basically private prisons where no-one is behind bars.
i been practicing law for 37 years and this is yet another example of how government has and is turning the criminal justice system into a revenue producing source .
All this for $3,200. Ok, Shad.
these people are allowed to call themselves '' probation officers''
just look at the website or facebook page of this court programs LLC company
the term ''probation officers'' attempted to infer that they are some sort of government , or law enforcement employee.
well, they are NEITHER.
many defendants go through these rip-off programs thinking their supervisor is so sort of a cop. they never know the truth.
its time the legislature crack down on people pretending to be government employees and/ or law enforcement. and they need to start right here.
I’m thinking that in this situation, the perp was not awakened at sunrise by deputies banging on her door & then dragged to the sheriff’s office in whatever attire she happened to be sporting at the moment. Rather, she stood before her closet one day & said, “I have to go to get fingerprinted & get my picture made today. Hmmm… Let's see, what shall I wear?”
The shirt is perfect for this mugshot!
Can someone please tell me where I can buy that tee shirt? Asking for several friends.
She's stolen a lot more than $ 7,500.00 at the all you can eat crab leg buffet !!
Reminds me of ole Gov. Ross Barnett saying “if you can’t trust a trustee who can you trust”. Same for probation officers.
Incarcerated yet caffeinated.
Principal $3215
Interest $1128
Cost of Recovery $3215
I get stealing is wrong, but this "itemized statement" is anything but. How is it that the cost of recovery is exactly the same as the amount she stole? Is that the max allowable by law not to exceed the amount stolen? You would think "itemized would show what all was done to recover the funds? Also, for the interest, how hard would it be to include the time and interest rate?
1010 and 1024 for the 'win' (for those that play that game on JJ). I'll play it another way, they have diagnosed the problem and prescribed the solution.
These contracted "probation officers" need to be taken out of the system. Right now several of our state's, the Justice Court "Judges" along with Municipal Judges are 'connected' with some of these private companies and once a person is deemed guilty in their courts, the case is handed over to the judge's 'selected' probation officer (a company rep) who then directs the guilty party to their hired help.
These companies are well connected; have their own association's lobbyist who ensures that their domain continues without disturbance and these private employees continue to demand their weekly payment for doing nothing.
Im not arguing that those found guilty were not guilty; most were, I'm sure. And if some type probation is appropriate, sentence them accordingly. But get rid of the farce of calling these private entities with their do-nothing hacks sitting behind a desk in a two room office somewhere; they are doing nothing but making sure the "guilty" show up before five oclock on Friday to do nothing but sign-in. Of course those that have a drug problem might have to pee in a cup - but if that is required, these desk jockeys have no process to ensure that it is done properly - although I'd guess many could be paid to properly unobserve the process (if they knew what the proper process was).
Per MS Sec of State, there is a Court Programs, Inc., but no Court Programs, LLC.
That fancy t-shirt should've been a dead giveaway that she'd been living above her means...
Did she eat the parolees too?
Great job, now when is he going to arrest Dean Scott? Remember olé Dean, while police chief in Pearl he had a no show job with the Rankin County tax assessor. When this was brought to light he quickly resigned. Now olé Dean has resurfaced as a Lieutenant with the Capitol Police @$70K a year as supervisor of communications, while having ZERO experience working in communications with any law enforcement agency. Ole Dean has carved out quite a career. The perfect example of a dead beat government employee who continues to rise to the top while not being outstanding in any of the jobs he has held.
I saw the spokesperson for Capitol Police say they were aware of the allegations involving ole Dean, but th3 case was still under investigation. BULLSHIT! Ole Dean laid low a few months hoping time would pass and this would be forgotten. This case does not require months of investigation. Ole Dean is part of the Rankin County political scene that is to this day robbing the citizens of Rankin County. Shad is scared to death to ruffle feathers in Rankin County, worried about his political future. Remember this when Shad ask for your vote.
Unless we start electing people who will do the right things at every level nothing will change.
No "low hanging fruit" comments?
If only she was a contractor working for someone like Socrates or Richard she would have gotten a free pass. Right?
12:56PM, in a state run by jock-sniffers with daddy issues, Dean's future is bright. He's the 'Ultimate Jock DADDY'.
A shad is a small fish, chasing smaller fish.
Makes me wonder what she did all those cups of urine she had to collect randomly each month. They should have checked under the seat of her Pinto.
Why does Shad charge for the “cost” of the investigation when it’s already paid for in his budget? The salaries in his budget are covered by the appropriation from the legislature. That means that revenues such as this are just a little lagniappe I guess.
Asking for a friend on the appropriations committee.
Extra credit for the T shirt and Pinto, but only if the ashtray is piled high with Kool cigarette butts.
10:14 right and wrong are not determined by the amount of money stolen. How did you miss that growing up?
Shad is staying busy keeping you all distracted from the fact that he withheld evidence in other higher profile cases and actively tried to protect his former boss at the same time. You’ve all taken it hook, line and sinker. I’m sure he’s covered all that in his book.
So how much more would she have been able to steal without putting an end to it by the auditor’s actions? How long should he ignore the theft before acting? It’s not just the money actually stolen that counts, but also the amounts that would have continued to be stolen. So it’s worth going after relatively small amounts to keep those amounts from become more substantial. Some commenters are too short sighted to see that simple fact.
At 7:42….go on and do tell us pheasants more please!
Its Salem, not Kool. Lemme guess...You're a Tareyton guy.
HELLO COURT PROGAMS LLC INC.
I've read 11:27.....10:10....and 10:24............
ANY DENIALS???????
any denials from your ''competitors ''..........
i didn't think so.
TO 9:21...A pheasant is a game bird.
a peasant is what we are
a redneck is what 7:42 is
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