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Last updated on Friday, December 28, 2018
(BROWN CO.) - A former Brown County High School Athletic Booster Club Treasurer was sentenced to 180 days on home detention after admitting to stealing of more than $7,000 from the organization for her own personal use.
49-year-old Melanie Redmond of Nineveh was arrested in March on a felony count of theft.
She will serve 180 days on probation and 100 hours of community service, participate in a mental health evaluation and must write an apology letter and pay $7,000 in restitution along with a fine and court cost.
According to court records her conviction will be reduced to a Class A misdemeanor after she completes probation.
Redmond told the court she cashed in her retirement at the Bureau of Motor Vehicles in Nashville where she served as branch manager and had the $7,000 to repay the Booster Club.
Redmond was arrested after Booster Club members contacted the Indiana State Police after they discovered funds were missing from the account. Detectives learned during her time as treasurer, Redman had not deposited money earned from the concession stand, but instead, spent the money on her bills, gas, food and Christmas gifts and other items.
Redmond told police after collecting the money from concession sales she would borrow $40 here and there with plans to return the funds, but never did. The largest amount she took at one time was $800 for Christmas gifts.
After the discovery of the missing funds, Booster Club officials approached Redmond about the missing money, and she asked them not report the crime. She told officials she would repay the money when she returned from her Florida vacation.
Redmond told police her vacation to Florida was paid for with the family's tax refund, which she had planned to repay the Booster Club with, but couldn't because she didn't want her husband to know she had stolen money from the Booster Club account.
When she returned from vacation, Redmond failed to replace the money saying she couldn't borrow the money from a family member. She asked officials again not to report the crime, promising to borrow the money from a friend.
On March 20, Redmond sent a text message to a Booster Club member saying she couldn't borrow the money.
Redmond was arrested the next day at her place of employment. She was fired from her job on March 29.
She bonded out of jail the same day of her arrest after posting a $255 cash bond.
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