Sean C. Morgan
Former Senior Center Manager William Michael Riggle was sentenced Thursday to 10 days of compensatory service, two years probation, $458 in fines and fees and $365.10 in restitution on two theft charges.
Riggle pleaded no contest to the two charges two weeks earlier. The theft charges were for a $265.10 payment to Pacific Power and a $100 payment to Comcast with Senior Center funds. The Senior Center does not pay Pacific Power for electricity. Instead, it pays the City of Sweet Home, which owns the building.
Senior Center Board President Don Hopkins discovered the thefts after he began reconciling the Senior Center’s financial records following the dismissal of Riggle from his job.
After The New Era published a story outlining the criminal history Riggle has in California, the Senior Center placed him on a 90-day probation period. The Oregon Department of Transportation, which pays much of the Linn Shuttle transportation costs, pressured the Senior Center to take action, and Riggle was dismissed.
Also factoring into the dismissal were transportation reimbursement forms that had not been filed most of last year along with tax payments on personnel and charity report forms to the Department of Justice.
“While he was there ? he admitted he used a credit card to pay these bills, his own personal utility bills,” City Attorney Robert Snyder said.
Riggle said he would be moving within a month and asked the judge not to impose a sentence where he would have to remain here doing work projects.
Municipal Judge Larry Houchin told Riggle his request limits the court’s options and could include jail time unless Riggle had the ability to pay even larger fines.
“People who steal from their employer need to be held accountable,” Judget Houchin told Riggle.
Judget Houchin asked Riggle about his criminal record in California. Riggle told him it was over a food stamp overpayment in the 1990s.
Documents from Sacramento Superior Court indicate an overpayment of food stamps and cash assistance. When Riggle repeatedly did not show up for interviews with an investigator he was charged with perjury and welfare fraud. The perjury charge was later dismissed in a plea agreement. Riggle was convicted of welfare fraud and placed on three years probation, which he was still serving when the Senior Center hired him last year.
Riggle has until July 10 to complete his time on work crew. Judget Houchin told him not to leave the state without the state’s permission.