Woman gets 12 months jail for embezzling
Heather Eve Gallimore
STANARDSVILLE — The former treasurer of the Greene County Youth Center will serve 12 months in jail and pay $24,000 in restitution for embezzling from the nonprofit sports organization.
Heather Eve Gallimore, 36, was taken into custody after Friday’s sentencing in Greene Circuit Court. During sentencing, Judge J. Howe Brown noted his belief that embezzlers should go to jail.
Gallimore, who didn’t have a criminal history prior to these offenses, apologized before she was sentenced.
“All I can ask for is forgiveness and I promise to live my life honestly,” she said.
Michael Lamb, the center’s president, said he thinks Brown’s sentence was fair and will send a message to the community.
“I would say it’s appropriate what was served to her,” Lamb said. “It’s unfortunate that all this happened.”
The Ruckersville-based youth center runs baseball and softball programs for about 330 children between the ages of 4 and 18.
David Totten, a previous president of the youth center, testified Friday that he learned something wasn’t right with the books last summer when Pepsi said the group owed more than $8,000.
“I went to the bank, and there was no money,” Totten said in court.
The youth center is funded by registration fees, sponsorships, donations and concessions profits.
Greene sheriff’s Investigator Rodney Snead testified that Gallimore wrote herself $4,100 in checks from the youth center’s account, made some incoming checks payable to her and improperly used the center’s ATM card.
Totten said he noticed receipts from Sam’s Club, where the center buys concessions supplies, had items that were clearly not for the center, such as chewing tobacco.
Cynthia Shifflett, the center’s current treasurer, took over shortly after the missing funds were found. Shifflett testified that a private donor loaned $12,000 to the center for bills. The center paid it back by holding fundraisers.
The exact amount Gallimore took isn’t known. Ronald Morris, commonwealth’s attorney, said the $24,000 is the amount of debt the center was in minus the Pepsi bill, which Gallimore paid.
Gallimore pleaded guilty in June to two counts of embezzlement as part of a plea agreement.
Brown also sentenced Gallimore to five years in prison on each charge, suspending all but six months on each charge. Gallimore will remain on probation for at least two years and could be on probation for longer until she makes restitution.
Gallimore also is facing welfare fraud allegations. She is scheduled to appear in court Nov. 9 on that case.
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Reader Reactions
I think Kyra is upset over the lack of attention the Gallimore case received vs the amount of attention the Comer case received. Yes, Comer alledgedly embezzled more money, but that didn’t make the Gallimore case less important. The Gallimore case wasn’t even important enought for NBC29 to carry for several days! Many Greene Co. residents were ONLY able to hear updates through the media because we do not know people who were personally involved. That includes people who were owed money!
Comer’s mouthpiece? I don’t even know who he is or care. Have either of you two obtuse people looked into sentencing for embezzlers? The losses were not ‘covered’ by some entity or someone they had to get a loan from an outside source -and have fundraisers to pay it back. My husband had to bust his buns organizing the fundraisers. The money to pay back all who were owed did not just drop out of the sky. My point is (and obviously because it had an impact on ME and MY family)is Heather got a fair sentence not a more harsher sentence because she was poor but because the Judge was aware of all the circumstances surrounding the embezzlement. Perhaps both of you should be aware of what you’re talking about and who before you comment.
Geez, what are you, Comers mouthpiece? The losses WERE covered by some one or entity. The original posters point was to make sure the DP pays close atention to the disposition and sentencing of Comer and that in spite of the larger dollar amount, his sentencing might not be compparable. I’m betting NO jail time but will be delighted to be proven wrong.
Good luck with your continued Comer public relations campaign.
Are you aware of the different charges each person faced? You are stating yourself that money is more important by implying he should receive a heftier sentence due to the amount he stole. Heather’s charges were reduced due to a plea agreement. She had not only embezzlement charges but multiple forgery charges.
Why are you assuming she is poor? Because she stole? She wasn’t paying bills - she went Christmas shopping at Bed Bath and Beyond etc…
Heather’s husband had a decent job until she decided to embezzle and commit welfare fraud.
The sentencing has to do with the amount stolen not the wealth of the thief. The majority of embezzler’s receive jail time. Look it up.
I don’t think anyone’s electricity was cut off due to comer’s theft was it? The youth center’s was.
Nobody had to take out any loans to pay bills because of comer’s theft did they?
The youth center did.
Glenmore won’t be holding any fundraisers to pay bills will they? Hmm guess what the youth center did.
If he is convicted he will likely receive jail time it’s ridiculous to allude to anything else.
Kyra,
My point was that there is a separate standard of justice for the poor than there is for the wealthy.
Was what she did wrong? Yes.
Was the fact that she stole from kid’s organizations bad? Absolutely.
Does the fact that Comer stole from Rich people make his crime any less? They can prove he took upwards of 600k.
My point and comment isn’t about this womans crime. It’s about the fact that there is someone out there in the news who embezzled even more money than this woman was convicted of stealing (Comer).
My point is that I want the Daily Progress to pay special attention to this case and it’s outcome and compare it to Comer’s case and outcome. Especially if his result is ANYTHING less than what this lady got.
THat’s my point.
Heather took more than 24K - if you read the story it states 24k was left after she paid 8K back to Pepsi. This amount was only what the prosecutor could prove she took in a court of law. I’m not sure what your point of rich vs poor standard is? She stole money that was slated for kids. She also was stealing this money long before any ‘recession’ was in place. Don’t blame the economy.
I want the Daily Progress writers to remember this one when it’s Comer’s turn. This woman took only 24k. Comer to upwards of 600k. How much you want to bet there is a different standard of justice for the rich?
During a recession, I guess incidents like this are more and more common.
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