ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, January 19, 1996 TAG: 9601190055
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: S.D. HARRINGTON STAFF WRITER
A Lynchburg Girl Scout troop leader caught embezzling more than $2,000 from the troop's cookie money will not spend time in jail but will have to finish paying back the troop by the end of the year.
Salem Circuit Judge G.O. Clemens found Catrice Yolanda Stokes guilty of the single embezzlement charge and sentenced her to two years in prison. But he suspended that sentence and placed her on two years' probation.
Stokes pleaded no contest to the charge in October, but Clemens postponed his ruling until a pre-sentence investigation could be completed.
The case was tried in Salem Circuit Court because the Virginia Skyline Girl Scout Council is based in Salem.
"It's not just a crime of embezzlement and trust she broke with the Girl Scout council, but a degree of trust she broke with the children," said Commonwealth's Attorney Fred King.
Although King recommended that Stokes serve two years in prison, Clemens said he saw no benefit in that, because she has to support three children.
And Clemens said it would be difficult for a Salem probation officer to monitor community service because Stokes lives in Lynchburg.
Stokes, 24, volunteered to be a Girl Scout troop leader after one of her daughters joined the troop.
When the Girl Scout cookie drive started last January, Stokes said she began to "borrow" money after she fell into financial troubles.
In addition to her three children, she was taking care of a 14-year-old girl at the time.
Stokes said she ran up credit card bills and was unable to hold a steady job. And because of a paperwork error, a welfare check for $1,000 was delayed.
At first, she kept track of the money she took, she said.
"I was confident I was going to be able to pay it back," Stokes testified, but eventually, "I stopped writing it down."
The Girl Scout council in Salem became suspicious and began questioning Stokes about the money, she said. The matter then was handed over to state police, and more than $2,400 was found missing from the troop's cookie money.
However, Stokes said $436 of that was stolen from her apartment.
"I have worked since I was 16 years old and I have never done anything this crazy in all my life," Stokes said.
She has already paid back $340 to the troop.
Virginia Skyline Girl Scout Council spokeswoman Julie Becker said the troop was affected by the theft temporarily, but eventually was able to do the activities it had planned to do with the money.
"Ultimately, it becomes a council problem," Becker said. "We do our best to keep it from penalizing the troop."
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