ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, February 12, 1997 TAG: 9702120084
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: FINCASTLE
SOURCE: MATT CHITTUM STAFF WRITER
THE BOTETOURT COUNTY Commonwealth's Attorney says he caught his secretary embezzling funds last fall.
Botetourt County Commonwealth's Attorney Joel Branscom discovered his secretary was embezzling money from his office last fall, but chose to accept her resignation and repayment of the money instead of bringing charges against her, Branscom said Tuesday.
"Prosecutors make those kinds of decisions every day," he said. "You do what you can live with, what you can sleep with."
Branscom believes that Sally Ann Kitts - because of financial problems - took about $600 in cash from a restitution fund intended for crime victims. He found evidence that some of the money already had been returned. He found no evidence of indiscretions by Kitts while she had worked for two previous commonwealth's attorneys.
He said that losing a $30,000-a-year job and a retirement plan in which Kitts had invested more than 15 years was punishment enough, especially given the amount of money involved and the fact that she had started paying it back.
Kitts did not usually handle restitution funds, Branscom said. But victim-witness coordinator Lori East was on maternity leave, so Kitts took over part of the responsibility.
In October, after someone who was supposed to be receiving restitution called to say the money had not been deposited, Branscom and East began examining files and discovered receipts for about $600 in cash payments that had never reached the intended recipients. Files relating to the cases where the discrepancies had occurred were discovered in Kitts' desk, Branscom said.
After consulting with Roanoke Commonwealth's Attorney Don Caldwell, Branscom confronted Kitts. He said he told her he could ask for an investigation, or she could pay back the money and resign.
Kitts took the second option.
Branscom then told everyone with a financial relationship to his office about what had happened, including Sheriff Reed Kelly, Botetourt Circuit Judge George Honts III, General District Judge Louis Campbell, and the circuit and general district court clerks.
Kelly could have initiated his own investigation, but he said he considered the case an internal personnel matter and believes Branscom handled it correctly. Honts agreed.
"I really didn't want to get into the thing of dragging her through the mud on it," Branscom said. In a small town like Fincastle, he said, just telling the people he felt he had to tell would have spread word quickly.
Kitts declined to comment. She now works for Salem attorney Charlie Phillips, who Branscom said had hired her with a full explanation from him of what had happened in Botetourt.
Caldwell, Branscom's former boss, said it's unfortunate that Branscom had to deal with this situation in his first year in office, but he believes Branscom did the right thing.
From what he was told, Caldwell said, there wasn't much chance of successfully prosecuting Kitts, anyway. Branscom said he doesn't believe the evidence rose to proof beyond a reasonable doubt.
Caldwell said the fact that Branscom did not hire Kitts made Branscom's job even tougher.
If he treats her in a noncriminal manner, he said, he looks too lenient. But if he goes after an employee inherited from the commonwealth's attorney he defeated to win office, he might appear vindictive.
"It's better to be accused of being merciful," he said.
"If it means taking some heat on it," Branscom said, "well, I wouldn't change the way I handled it."
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