ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, April 18, 1997 TAG: 9704180085
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MATT CHITTUM THE ROANOKE TIMES
A Botetourt judge agreed with the argument that the guideline sentence didn't provide enough incentive not to steal.
A Botetourt judge sentenced an embezzler and forger Tuesday to more than twice what sentencing guidelines recommended.
The guidelines prescribe that Jenna Drum spend four years in prison, but Circuit Court Judge George E. Honts III gave Drum 10 years to serve for the 20 counts of forgery and seven counts of embezzling she pleaded guilty to in February.
Botetourt Commonwealth's Attorney Joel Branscom argued that giving Drum four years for embezzling $138,000 from Groggins Plastics amounted to serving a year for every $34,500 she took.
That is not "disincentive" enough to steal, Branscom explained after the hearing. At that price, it's almost worth the risk.
"You want the punishment to fit the crime, but you've got to make the cost of doing business to fit the crime, as well," he said.
Branscom also cited Drum's extensive record, which includes 11 embezzling convictions in Hawaii and six more in Texas. A presentence report listed six previous employers in her life, Branscom said, and Drum has been convicted of stealing from all but one of them.
Drum, whose real name is believed to be Annis Hobratschke, got the job as an accountant at Groggins with a bogus resume boasting an accounting degree from the University of California at Berkeley. Police believe her latest name, which she took from the birth certificate and Social Security card of the 10-year-old daughter of a friend, is her 15th alias.
According to testimony at her trial in February, Drum's tactic was to write paychecks to people no longer employed by the company and then cash them with forged endorsements. She also would take checks intended to be deposited at the bank to cover FICA taxes and use them to buy cashier's checks made out to nonexistent third parties. She would then cash those checks at another bank.
Honts also ordered Drum to repay the money she took.
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