Long stole from school district program, elderly bank customer
A 6.5-year prison sentence has been ordered for a Kingman woman who stole from her school district employer for nearly five years before she ripped off an elderly customer while working as a bank teller. Deborah Long, 44, was sentenced Friday by Mohave County Superior Court Judge Derek Carlisle.
Long was one of the first two employees hired when the Western Arizona Vocational Education (WAVE) district was established in 2009. She pleaded guilty to fraud and theft for stealing nearly $140,000 from WAVE from November 2011 to August 2016.
The school district case was prosecuted by Mary Harris of the Arizona Attorney General’s office. She said Long exploited loopholes and engaged in strategic, sophisticated and elaborate criminal behavior using eight different schemes to siphon WAVE money for personal use.
“I don’t believe she acted out of malice here,” said defense attorney Lee Novak. “She just got in over her head.”
“I was wrong in my actions. I’ve hurt a lot of people, business and family,” Long said. “I know I have to be punished for what I’ve done. I am very sorry.”
WAVE governing board chairman Tom Duranceau and superintendent Amy West spoke of damage by Long’s abuse of public trust and theft of money from the school district and its taxpayers. “I have never felt so betrayed in my life,” said West.
West said WAVE was requesting more than $31,000 in restitution to cover its cost of investigation, audit and other expenses in the aftermath of the discovery of the embezzlement in August, 2016.
Long also pleaded guilty to theft for stealing more than $6,300 from a 79-year-old customer she served while working as a teller at Compass Bank last year.
Deputy Mohave County attorney Rod Albright prosecuted the bank customer case, calling Long a calculating criminal.
“It is abhorrent for a bank teller to steal from an elderly lady,” especially after getting busted for swindling the school district, Albright said. “The community should be outraged by this and the defendant should receive the maximum punishment.”
Judge Carlisle was amazed that Long was hired by a bank to work as a teller when under investigation for theft of more than $100,000 from WAVE.
“I’m quite frankly shocked by that,” Carlisle said. He said the bank must not have known of her legal issues when it put her to work as a teller.
Judge Carlisle ordered that Long shall pay almost $177,000 in restitution to cover losses by the school district and the bank customer. He also ordered that Long shall serve seven years of probation upon release from prison.
