DOLAN SPRINGS – A firefighter who has relocated to Illinois can partly thank the pandemic for not being sent to jail for stealing roughly $24,000 from the Dolan Springs-based Lake Mohave Ranchos Fire District (LMRFD). Mohave County Superior Court Judge Rick Lambert ordered a one-year probation term for Phillip Picard, 32, without incarceration.
Picard pleaded guilty to theft in a scheme involving collecting pay for some days and hours he did not work. Defense attorney Virginia Crews told the Court that Picard quickly and fully reimbursed the district when the compensation anomalies were discovered in early 2018, well before he was indicted in the case.
Deputy county attorney Karolina Czaplinska argued in favor of some jail time to send a proper message.
“The defendant essentially stole approximately $24,000 from taxpayers,” she said. “This wasn’t a one-time spur of the moment mistake. This is something that went on for about two years.”
Judge Lambert said he would ordinarily impose up to a three-month jail sentence in similar criminal cases. But he declined to lock Picard up at a time when prosecutors are asking that some non-violent offenders be released from the county jail due to coronavirus infections among inmates.
Lambert said COVID-19 has been a nightmare for jail staff and that Capt. Don Bischoff has been “brilliant” in segregating infected inmates and managing the outbreak as best he can. The judge said now is not the time to increase risk of spread by incarcerating non-violent convicts and that Picard is “lucky to be sentenced during a pandemic.”
Lambert ordered Picard to perform 200 hours of community work service while serving supervised probation.
Dave Hawkins
Thats a cop-out and Lambert knows it! The real reason is the usual one for Mohave County.. Preferential treatment to civil employees or as they call it “professional courtesy”