THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, February 21, 1996 TAG: 9602200108
SECTION: ISLE OF WIGHT CITIZEN PAGE: 12 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: STAFF REPORT
DATELINE: ISLE OF WIGHT LENGTH: Medium: 60 lines
Yvette Stephens, hired in January to oversee 4-H programs in the county through the Virginia Tech Extension Service program, lost her job last week.
A profile on Stephens, 34, appeared in the Jan. 31 issue of The Citizen.
Neither Bob Goerger, her immediate supervisor in the local extension program, nor Frederick Custis, district director of the Southeastern Virginia Cooperative Extension, would say why Stephens was fired.
The day before her termination, it came to the attention of her superiors that Stephens had a criminal record dating back to 1987.
In July 1987, Stephens was charged with impersonating a U.S. Air Force captain, a flight surgeon, according to federal court records. At the same time, she was charged with 13 counts of theft from a federal credit union, the court records show. In August of that year, according to those records, Stephens pleaded guilty to the impersonation charge and to one count of theft.
Both Stephens and Dr. Judith Jones, overall director of the Tech extension program, say Stephens' firing was not related to her criminal record.
In February 1988, U.S. District Judge Robert Doumar sentenced Stephens to three years in federal prison, all but 116 days suspended. She was placed on probation for five years after serving the sentence, but her probation was revoked in April 1991, and she was imprisoned at Lexington Correctional Institute in Kentucky.
It isn't clear from the court records whether she served out her sentence.
Stephens also was ordered to pay a $1,000 fine and $6,638 in restitution over five years.
Although Stephens said in the Citizen interview last month that she graduated from Mary Baldwin College in 1982, an assistant registrar at the college in Staunton said Stephens transferred there in August 1993 after attending three other schools, but has not graduated from Mary Baldwin.
Custis, the extension's district director, said faculty positions such as an extension agent are routinely advertised through service agencies like the Virginia Beach Experimental Station, where Stephens took courses. Applicants are not required to complete a formal job application until after they are hired. Therefore, they are not required to answer any questions, before their hiring, pertaining to possible criminal background.
Instead, Custis said, applicants must submit a letter of intent, a resume, a college transcript and three letters of reference. Custis declined to say if the transcript Stephens submitted indicated she graduated from college.
Custis confirmed from his Blacksburg office that Stephens no longer works for his agency. He said he was ``not at liberty'' to say why she was let go.
Goerger said Stephens will be replaced immediately. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by JOHN H. SHEALLY II
Yvette Stephens, hired to oversee 4-H programs through the Virginia
Tech Extension Service program, has a criminal record dating back to
1987.
by CNB